A Long Walk in the Dark - Arc 1
by Ghostrider21
Summary: After being fitted with an experimental drive system the crew of the Borealis is sent on a blind jump to another reality. Damage sustained leaves her lost and unable to return home. This is the story of her crew and her CO's mission to return them home. At all cost.
1. Chapter 1

**A Long Walk in the Dark: Arc 1 **

**Chapter 1: Homecoming**

**Greetings internet this is Ghostrider21 signing on for the first time exciting isn't it? I've been considering writing a story like this for a while now and haven't really thought out how I would go about doing this until now. **

**This is my first story I've created so please criticism is welcomed, flamers will be met with napalm, just a heads up…**

**Anyway let's get this thing started shall we?**

_April 21, 2018 1300 Hours- Atlantis Central Spire, San Francisco Bay_

The wind blew calmly across the patio as its lone occupant stared across the sea. The man sighed as he gazed out at the rolling white-caps while running his hand through his hair. _"So bored," _he thought to himself "_nothing has happened since we've returned, not even any excitement since the team was broken up. I kind of miss the action." _He smiled warmly as he thought man's plan originally was to stand out there for a little while longer however fate had a slightly different plan.

"_I kind of enjoy this lack of constant excitement howev-"_

"Whoosh"

"_Ignore it back to my train of thoug-"_

"DOCTOR we have a situation"

" _Zapomeň na to, back to work. _"He thought as he grabbed his data pad. Dr. Radek Zelenka took one last look out at the sea before turning around and running into the control room to see what was going on.

_Atlantis Control Room 1240 Hours_

"996, 997, 998, 99- shit!" exclaimed Sgt. Stevens as he threw his paddleball on the floor. Stevens dropped face first down on his workstation with a bounce, groaning while those that had been watching his attempt laughed, glared, or just plain walked away from him. He slowly turned his head to the side to see the evil grin from his right.

"Alright then Collins pay up." Stated his friend and coworker Sgt. Evans, as he extended his hand. "Come on then and get it over I don't have all day."

"Fine it was twenty right? Here you g-,"

"No you little cheater the bet was twenty and you then doubled it when you hit five hundred the bet is forty so fork it over," demanded the angry Sgt.

"Fine but I still think it was twenty," grumbled Collins as he handed Evans the money.

The control room slowly returned to normally operations as everybody returned to their stations and began their duties again. Collins controled Atlantis's long range sensor array and was in charge of alerting Atlantis and as of now Earth in the event of an impending attack. Collins had recently been assigned to Atlantis by the SGC and since joining, he had yet to see action. While the city was mighty impressive, after 4 months of siting at a station seeing nothing but friendlies in orbit it was beginning to get a little dull. "_What I wouldn't give for a little action," _he thought dryly, "_Something anything to end the monot-_"

"WARBLE, WARBLE, WARBLE," his console blared as an unknown target appeared… directly over them?

"_SHIT," _he thought as he activated the cities communication system, "Attention Atlantis, an unknown contact has appeared in orbit, command staff to the control room!" He could hear Evans opening the door to the balcony where the Dr. was taking a break and yelling to him.

As the knowledge of having an unknown ship make it past Earth's defenses sank in, the room erupted in to shear bedlam as everybody went to combat stations. Collins noticed as Atlantis's current CO Lt. Colonel Lorne and Dr. Zelenka made a beeline straight for him.

"Status Sergeant what the hell happened how did they get past us?" Lorne demanded as he reached Collins.

"Unknown Sir the sensors detected no hyperspace window, no course, nothing. One second it wasn't there the next it was."

Lorne looked to Zelenka, "Well Doc any idea how they got past the pickets undetected? And if they did why are we detecting them now?"

Zelenka stared at the screen trying to get comprehend how a ship manage to make it past not only all the ships and sensors spread out in orbit but Atlantis's sensors again. They were capable of detecting a ship in hyperspace and yet they got no warning at all. "Nemožný, I mean impossible there is no way anything made it past us undetected, there must be something," he said as he pushed Collins out of the way. Zelenka's fingers flew across the console as he tried to find something, anything that would show why they weren't seen. It was then that the sensor array finally acknowledged an important piece of information which it quickly displayed on the screen.

"Ping," as Zelenka pounded on the keyboard the sensor displayed a new piece of info on the unknown craft, an IFF.

"_Hm what's this? An IFF that at least explains who it is but how…_ _nemožný, how?"_ Zelenka proceeded to slump in the chair as his brilliant mind struggled to comprehend what had just transpired. "It's them," he whispered with a slight grin on his face.

"It's who Zelenka? Collins who is the mad Doc talking about?" inquired the Major.

Sgt. Collins maneuvered around Dr. Zelenka to see what had caused him to stop panicing and he grew confused. "Sir it appears our contact is one of ours although I don't recognize it."

"Which ship is it?" asked the Major

"The _Borealis _Sir but as I said… Sir?"

As soon as the Major heard that name he immediately ran straight to the communications officer. "Contact SGC now." He demanded, "I need to speak with the General."

_Department of Homeworld Security- Pentagon 1420 Hours_

The man sat at his desk and scratched his greying hair as he completed the massive stack of paperwork on his desk. "_What I wouldn't give to go off world right now," _thought Lt. General Jack O'Neill. Ever since taking command of Homeworld Security from the late Lt. General George Hammond, O'Neill grew bored quite easily. The lack of excitement from constant missions, dying twice and the pain of losing the Icarus Expedition, and an important science experiment were beginning to seriously wear on him. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling as he remembered everything that he had been through. He snorted, "A change of pace is probably for the best," he said to himself. O'Neill grab his pen again as he leaned forward to resume his paperwork, when his phone rang.

Glancing to his side he noticed it was the emergency phone for the SGC and immediately picked it up. "What's the situation?" he demanded as he waited for a reply. "What?! Are you serious? Have you tried to contact them?" a pause, "Who's in orbit right now?" pause, "Alert Colonel Caldwell to get ready for me, I'll be ready for a beam up on his next orbit."

Jack leaned back in his chair again stunned from what he heard. Glancing down he reached into his desk and pulled out a photo of him and young Colonel standing in front a ship, the name _Borealis_ visible on its side. As he looked at it a smile began to cross his face, "Colonel, you SOB you made it back I knew you would." Standing up the General spun around and opened his closet, his old fatigues just in reach, "A little adventure every now and then won't hurt will it?" he said while grinning.

Five minutes later the aging General left his office in his fatigues and left a note with his secretary while activating his radio, "Get me up there Colonel we have a crew to welcome home," he stated as he vanished in a flash of light.

_**DSC 304 Daedalus- Geosynchronous Orbit, Earth 1600 Hours**_

"We should be in visual range soon Gentlemen please hang on," reported the _Daedalus'_ helmsmen

"Any response from our hails yet McKay?" General O'Neill asked anxiously, "We getting anything at all from them?"

The Canadian scientist rolled his eyes and turned around, "Yes Jack I've been asking them if they've been enjoying the weather, no I haven't heard anything yet. I'm not getting much of a reading at all the sensors must need to be calibrated again."

"Of course it's the ships fault Rodney nothing you ever do could be wrong," stated Colonel John Sheppard as a rolled his eyes at friend, "I mean everything you've ever touched has always worked so w-"

"Can it you two this is important," the General glared at his subordinate and the scientist. "Why does Teal'c have to be on Chulak at a time like this?" Glancing at the Colonel, "Yes that means I'm trying to tell you two to shut up." A pause, "What's the status on the sh-"

"Got it! The _Borealis_ just came back online I'm getting some readings and a message, audio only."

"_SGC, this is the DSV Borealis, if you are receiving this message the ship has finally jumped home. The crew has been put in stasis for an extended period of time. Medical attention is required. Message repeats."_

_(Halo OST Dust and Echoes)_

As the message repeated itself the ship finally made an appearance.

"Sir we have a visual…" a sensor operator began as the view screen was filled with the _Borealis._ All of the Ancient warships that the humans had found had a sense of deadly beauty. From their size to the shape, the ships created by the Lanteans all looked incredible. The _Borealis_ on the other hand looked terrible. Burn marks marred her patched up hull from stem to stern and chunks of the hull were missing with conduits exposed underneath. One of the ships fins appeared to have been snapped off while the dome on the ships spine had metal welded over some of the panes. A quick glance at one of her jumper bays showed that the door appeared welded shut while the crew noticed that only half of her maneuvering jets were firing to correct its list. Most of the ships defense turrets were either missing or damaged and one of the ships primary engines was gone.

The crew of the _Daedalus _were dead silent as the observed the once beautiful ship and tried to imagine the horrors that befell the ship and her crew.

"McKay," silence, "McKay!"

"Wha-what Sir?"

"Does the ship have an atmosphere?"

"Yes"

"Then get us over there now," demanded the General, "We have a crew to rescue."

_DSV Borealis-Bridge 1650 Hours_

A flash of light appeared on the darkened bridge as twelve people appeared in full combat load out. Six of the arrivals fanned out in groups of two, guns out as they swept the bridge and conjoining hallways for any targets.

"Clear"

"Clear"

"Clear"

"All clear Sir"

"Alright McKay do your stuff the General is gonna shoot us if we take too long," stated Sheppard dryly as he glanced around. His eyes fell on the control chair and pointed his finger at it, "Hey you want me to try and start some of the systems with the chair?"

McKay glanced up from his computer, "Give me a sec let's see if I can get Serenity back on first," he replied as he interacted with the ships Lantean AI. "Alright looks like she was shut off to conserve power but why? I mean they had a ZPM, the ZPG, and the Naquadah generators they should have had plenty of juice." A pause, "Alright then looks like it's going to take a minute for her to restart in the meantime I'm going to check the ships power reserves.

"We good then McKay, can we call the General over?"

"Life-signs detector says were good so go ahead," replied McKay as Serenity continued her start up. Sheppard nodded and contacted the _Daedalus_ to send over General O'Neill.

Another flash of light filled the bridge as General O'Neill and another group of crew members appeared. Deep within the ship the Zero Point energy Generator (ZPG) slowly began to activate allowing the darken ship to flicker to life.

"Welcome aboard Sir, we would move on but McKay wants to talk to Serenity before we do," Sheppard stated as he saluted the General, "We can check the Asgard Core if you want Sir it has its own power supply." O'Neill nodded and beckoned Sheppard to lead the way to the core.

"Hey wait I need one of you for the chair."

"I thought you said it wasn't ready yet?" Sheppard stated as he turned around. "Besides if I remember correctly the interface is just down the hall."

"Colonel, stay here I'll take a team to the core you stay here and let me know when we can get Beckett over here to thaw the crew out," O'Neill began as he waved at some of the men standing around. A group of the soldiers acknowledged the wave and took up a protective formation around the General as he left the bridge and entered the hall.

As the AI continued its startup Sheppard wandered around the bridge observing some of the damaged and blown out consoles, he noted the panels welded over part of the bridge's forward view-port. "_What happened here?"_ He thought as he noticed what appeared to be a blood stain on the deck. "_How could all this have happened in 4 years?"_ He continued mulling over his thoughts until he heard a whine as all the bridge lights finally came back on a holographic emitter lit up displaying a dark haired female Lantean.

Serenity calmly looked around the room while in reality her sensors were doing the looking. She observed the humans before her, the ship nearby, and the life-signs from her frozen crew. She then took in the reports from her internal sensor telling her the condition of the ship and herself, once she completed all of this in a matter of seconds she finally greeted her guest.

"Hello again Dr. McKay it's nice to see you again." She greeted warmly, "and you too Colonel Sheppard it's nice to finally be home."

"It's been too long Serenity, too long; you keep the Colonel and company out of trouble?" Sheppard asked.

Serenity frowned as she thought of the proper response however before answering that… "Before I answer could you tell me what year it is so I can calibrate? The long range receiver is gone so I can't connect to Earth's networks."

Sheppard glanced at McKay, "Sure it's 2018 you guys have been gone for four years."

A pregnant pause filled the bridge as Serenity processed his response, "_It seems we were correct, the time dilation was indeed a factor in our trip."_ She looked at the Colonel, "_They don't know yet then."_ She finally responded to the Colonel's original question, "I have tried my hardest Colonel Sheppard and yes I kept him in one piece, for the most part."

Sheppard looked at her and nodded, "thanks then," he looked at the chair again and McKay, "Can I get the ship to a more stable position now McKay?"

McKay nodded and Sheppard headed over and sat in the chair. He leaned back and willed the chair to activate like all Ancient tech; the chair flickered once and shut off. Sheppard frowned and looked at McKay, "McKay," he growled.

"Not my fault let me see," McKay said as he walked over to the chair.

"No need Dr. McKay I believe I have fixed the issue, when the ZPG restarts, we have power distribution problems. The chair should work now." said Serenity.

Sheppard nodded and once again attempted to activate the chair. This time it leaned back, lit up and stayed lit. For the first time in a long time the _Borealis'_ primary engines lit up and the ship moved, under careful watch by the _Daedalus_, to a stable orbit.

"Alright get some more teams over here, we need to check the rest of the ship," Sheppard relayed to Caldwell as the bridge once again lit up with a transport beam.

_Asgard Core Room_

O'Neill entered the core room just as the lights came back on. "Finally," he exclaimed as he looked around, "you know what it was better with the lights off," even this room looked in bad shape. The back wall had been cut out giving access to one of the jumper bays, scratch and burn marks on the deck and walls made it look like a grenade went off in there; he shook his head in wonder. As he went to activate the core he voice rang out.

"Hello General O'Neill it is good to see you again," Serenity began, "The core is offline right now there is no point in trying to start it.

O'Neill raised one his eyebrows, "Alright then I guess we'll head to the stas-," he began.

Serenity interrupted him, "My apologize General but the Colonel wanted me to leave to deliver a message to you if you were still here."

"_Still here, how long did he think he was gone?"_ He thought, "Alright then what's the message?"

"Please go to the nearest console." She asked

The screen turned to static for a few seconds while Serenity found the file. As he watched the video the dark haired Colonel from his photo appeared on the screen and began addressing him. Minutes ticked by as his expression grew darker and darker, the men around him were also becoming confused by the video. When it finally ended the General was quiet for a moment before saying with steel in his voice, "Direct me to the stasis pods now."

_Borealis Bridge-1730 Hours_

As the bridge crew continued to get systems online, their radios began to squawk. "McKay, Sheppard get Beckett and the medics over here now we're getting the crew out," General O'Neill ordered, "And get it done now."

"Roger that Sir they're on their way, Sheppard out."

"What do you think has the General so spooked like that?"

"No idea let's just get Beckett over here and get down there, we can't keep the General waiting.

_Borealis Stasis Bay_

Dr. Carson Beckett shined his flashlight into some of the stasis pods trying to confirm what the diagnostics for each person were displaying. While he wasn't the real Carson Beckett everyone around him was trying they're hardest to make him feel as if he had never died. The clone sighed as he thought of this while continuing his exam.

"Well Sir it appears that everyone here survived stasis although some of these guys are pretty banged up. I don't know if all of them will survive the thawing process. We need to get them down to Atlantis's med bay as soon as possible." Beckett stated with his Scottish accent. "We start this there is no stopping till they are all down there."

"Do it Beckett, and where is he, I want to see him." O'Neill stated.

"He's right here Sir, it appears he'll survive."

"Good," He began as he made his way over to the pod, the dark hair Colonel lay within. "_He looks tormented_," he thought as he glanced at his face. "_His message was right then," _he glanced to the Colonel's left, "Who's that, I don't remember her being a member of the crew."

"No idea Sir it seems some of the ships memory is damaged, the crew manifest isn't accessible, we could ask Serenity?"

Serenity appeared from a nearby emitter, "I'm sorry General but the Colonel requested to be the one to explain everything to you. In the event that he died he requested that his video log and the Commander explain it." She said with a frown.

O'Neill approached the Colonel's pod and stared at the man within. "Fine get them down there now, Beckett start thawing them let's get them home."

_**May 6, 2018 2213 Hours-Atlantis Medical Bay, San Francisco Bay**_

The hiss of oxygen filled the room as the 389 surviving crew members of the _Borealis _slept free from their stasis pods. Since the crew had been thawed 12 members died due to their injuries, they never woke to see that they had made it home; the remaining crew had yet to show any signs of waking. As an orderly checked each bed to make sure the occupants were safe she noticed activity from one of the sleeping crew. As she approached it became apparent that this one was indeed waking.

"Dr. Beckett! One of them is waking!" she yelled getting the attention of more orderlies and the Dr. in question. As she moved to his side she began checking all of his vitals again. As she checked his pulse a hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. She jumped in fright as the sleeping crewmen opened his eyes for the first time in years.

He looked at her with his sharp brown eyes and tried to speak. All that came out was a hacking cough so she helped him take a sip of water. The others finally gathered around them as Colonel Christopher Vought spoke his first words in a long time.

"Where is she?" he wheezed before falling asleep yet again.

**Well what do you think? Good, Bad, Ugly, I want to hear your responses. Out of curiosity does anyone think I'm being too technical? I am an programming major and I tend to over think and over complicate things. The next chapter will explain a lot so just hang on that one will hopefully be out shortly. One final thing, this story I plan on being a crossover of epic proportions however because of this I have no idea where to put it. For now I'll leave it where it is although I may just break it up into separate stories. Oh well thanks for reading what will hopefully be a good story catch you next time. Ghostrider 21 signing off. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Lost in Space**

**Hello again Ghostrider21 signing back on for a second chapter. I wanted to get this one up quickly to help try to explain some things. Don't worry for those of you wondering when the crossover will begin it will be soon. Just as a thought would anyone be interested in being a Beta for me? Just pm me for those interested. I will have a profile up soon so you will just have to wait on that. Now back to the story. Oh I do not own anything pertaining to the Stargate franchise or the Strike Witches. All OC names are strictly fiction.**

_**Previously **_

_He looked at her with his sharp brown eyes and tried to speak. All that came out was a hacking cough so she helped him take a sip of water. The others finally gathered around them as Colonel Christopher Vought spoke his first words in a long time._

"_Where is she?" he wheezed before falling asleep yet again._

_**May 08, 2018 0930 Hours- Department of Homeworld Security, Pentagon **_

It had been two days since Colonel Vought had first woken from his sleep. Since then various other members of the crew begun to wake; most speaking nothing only smiling and crying they had finally completed their journey before falling asleep again. None having spoken anything more than a single sentence.

General O'Neill sat at his desk completing paperwork all the while glancing at his phone waiting for the phone call to tell him that the Colonel was awake and able to speak. He put his pen down as he reached for the button under his desk to lock his door before pulling out a flash drive and staring at it. He grunted and inserted the drive to his computer opening the only thing on the drive, a video file. As the static on the screen cleared, Colonel Vought appeared on the screen with a sad smile on his face.

"_**Good Day General Sir, how are you doing today?"**_ _**A pause**_, _**"If your receiving this message then we successfully jumped home, the ARD needs to unplugged now before it jumps again. It won't jump again without a command but," he sighed, "the nav computer for it was partially destroyed. We wouldn't want Serenity getting lost on her own now do we?" he said while smiling. "In the event no one survives getting home I have a log saved in my quarters for you to review. It contains my records of the events that took place onboard my ship between our unintended departure and this final report." Vought sighed looking years older, "Sir… Sir we've been gone for a long time. I'm willing to bet we've suffered much longer they you think we have." He looked dead into the camera, "We noticed something while we were gone, though we had nothing to confirm it with. Have Serenity talk to Rodney… tell him to check the connection between the ARD and the Asgard Core… Specifically the program that controls the time dilation and its memory. **_

_**As to why were in stasis…" he smirked before continuing, "towards the end of our journey various members of the crew began getting sick with no discernible symptoms. Pierce was baffled, he had no idea what was making what was happening. Within a month every member of the crew was sick to some degree and we could still not find a cause. About a week later Pierce and Lansby found the issue; our bodies were dying because we weren't in our own reality. When Colonel Sheppard and his team and Colonel Carter had their jumps they weren't gone long enough to suffer any ill effects." He looked at the camera again a haunted look in his eyes, "We were gone for years Sir… years… every enemy we ran into over the course of our mission failed to kill us." He smiled before frowning, "Well almost all of us… and here we were all dying; just because we weren't here. It wasn't fair." Vought dropped his head to the floor, "It wasn't fair at all." He looked up again, "It was at this point in time that we realized the only way we would make it home alive was to go into stasis. We connected Serenity to the ARD and gave her full defensive control over everything except the drones. We then put ourselves in stasis with the hope we would get lucky and one day get home."**_

_**He turned the head to his door and nodded at someone of camera before turning around, "Well Sir it looks like it's time," he said with the sad smile he originally sported, "In the event I don't make it," he stood up and saluted, "it was an honor serving Gentlemen." he cut the salute. "Hopefully I'll see you on the other side, Colonel Chris Vought, commanding officer of the Ancient Warship Borealis, signing off."**_

With that final line the video ended. O'Neill leaned back in his chair again as he struggled to comprehend his words. This was the third time he hand seen the video, the first was onboard the _Borealis_ and the second was with General Landry and select members of the DoD and the IOA. He glanced down at his report from Doctors McKay and Zelenka on the _Borealis_, skimming over it he saw that they had in fact disabled the ARD and that they had repaired her hyperdrive and they were scheduled to jump to the Alpha Site so that they could begin repairs; the Lantean ship was too important to scrap. "_What I wouldn't give to see those logs,"_ he thought to himself. Despite the fact that Serenity was supposed to give him the logs, she decided that since the Colonel would indeed be able to speak of his trip, she sealed them until the he was ready to begin debriefing.

"Stupid computer, what's next enslaving humanity?" he said out loud. He snorted, "What were the Ancients thinking? Didn't they learn from the Replicators?" a pause, "Bah if Chris trusts her then I do to." He sat there staring at his desk trying to think of something to do. Looking at his phone he remembered something, "_Well then I almost forgot, I've got to call the Russian and let him know his men will be awake soon."_ A quick glance at his never shrinking stack of paperwork made him sigh. "_You better wake up soon Vought," _he growled as he picked up his pen yet again, _"I HATE paperwork."_

_Same day 1321 Hours – Borealis, Lagrange 1_

Crews worked around the clock sweeping the scarred battleship for any useful information and to document what needed to be fixed or replaced.

"_She definitely has seen better days,"_ thought Sheppard as himself and McKay walked through the ship. After seeing the sleeping crew off the two of them returned to the _Borealis_ in order to prepare the damaged ship for a hyperspace jump. Since her cloaking device was offline they couldn't get her down to Atlantis for repairs; the Alpha Site was the only remaining option.

"Wow"

The duo entered the forward Jumper bay and stopped to look at the damage and it stunned them. It seemed that bay one had been storage for the crews land vehicles and judging by the shape the room was in, it also held a firefight. Scorch marks covered the bay from top to bottom; sandbag walls were set up towards the back, with empty brass lying everywhere. Blood stains were everywhere with the majority of them being near the external door. The big shocker though was the gun.

Sheppard walked towards it and gave a quick whistle as he ran his hand over it. The _Borealis_ had launched with a complement of armored vehicles just in case. Sheppard always wondered why but it didn't matter it looked like they were needed. Welded to the deck near the back wall was the turret of one of the ships T-90 main battle tanks. The turret was almost black with the amount of scorching to it to while casing from the 125mm gun littered the area behind it. The gun barrel was bent upward by some unknown force rendering it useless. The amount of ammo sent down range by the defenders was staggering. Touching the cold metal he tried to imagine the fight that happened here.

Shaking his head he snapped himself out of his thoughts and looked over at McKay through the hole in the wall. "McKay we gonna sit here all day or we going to move on?"

McKay picked his head up from his data pad, "Sure hang on a sec," he replied as he grabbed his equipment, "I think I found out why Serenity was off, hey Serenity?"

"Yes Dr. McKay what is it?"

"You were taken offline each time you jumped because the Naquadah generators were insufficient after the ZPM died correct?" he inquired.

Serenity visibly blinked; she was not expecting the doctor to figure this out so quickly. She knew he had been suspicious when the ARD was disabled but passed it off as a safety concern. She knew that the General was following the Colonel's instructions until he awoke to explain what happened. She smirked, humanity continued to amaze her; the Asgards were right, humanity was worthy of being the fifth race.

"Indeed Dr. McKay the ZPM was depleted and as you stated the Naquadah generators were incapable of supporting my operations." She replied.

"Wait what do you mean depleted? It took a galactic jump and combat with another ZPM powered ship to even come close to depleting Atlantis's three. This ship isn't even half that size."

"In due time Colonel Sheppard, in due time." She replied while smiling.

Sheppard rolled his eyes, "Let me guess Vought will explain when he wakes?"

She nodded while continuing to smile. Sheppard just shook his head, "Chris better wake up soon then a lot of people me included want to know what the hell happened here."

Her smile dropped, "You will get your wish soon Colonel, just wait."

Sheppard nodded satisfied with the answer and motion for McKay to follow him out.

"See you later Serenity, I'll have you run a final diagnostic before we jump." McKay called on his way out.

Serenity smiled as she watched them leave to finish their inspection, shutting off the holographic emitter.

_**May 10, 2018 1445 Hours – Atlantis Infirmary**_

90% of the crew had awoken at least once and Beckett was getting worried, the remaining 10% of the crew had yet to show any signs of waking. Every test he could think of failed to answer the question on why they were still asleep, including all of their scans through the med scanner.

Beckett rubbed his eyes as he glanced around the room. He was tired, so very tired. Ever since the Colonel Vought had awoken he had tried to remain awake so that he could observe everyone as they woke up from their sleep. One nap was the only sleep he had in the past few days. Glancing to his left he saw his colleague Dr. Jennifer Keller asleep face down on the table.

Dr. Keller had arrived the day after the _Borealis _returned and immediately set to work helping him deal with the crew. She was just as tired as he was so being the gentleman he was, he let her sleep. Looking up he saw something that made him blink to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "Dr. Keller wake up I need your help," he yelled while jumping up.

_**May 10, 2018 1450 Hours – Atlantis Infirmary**_

A barrage of sounds assaulted his ears as he slowly regained consciousness. He groaned out loud as somebody forced one of his eyes open to shine a light in.

"If you don't want to lose the hand I suggest removing it," Colonel Vought growled out in a raspy voice; the offending hand immediately being removed; finally opening his eyes and was greeted with a blurry scene unable to make out anything. Blinking he was finally able to see properly. Struggling to process what he was seeing he began tearing up, "We made it…" he whispered, "We actually made it."

He gazed around remembering those around him; Dr. Beckett, Dr. Keller, Colonel Sheppard, Dr. McKay, Dr. Zelenka, Colonel Lorne, and some nurses he didn't know. They were all standing there waiting for something. "Well?"

Sheppard walked up and dropped a hand on his shoulder, "Welcome home Chris, you took your damn time coming back didn't you?"

"Sorry John I got a little lost on my walk but I still found my way back."

"Yes Colonel I was wondering the same thing," an amused voice called out.

Everybody turned to look at the newcomer with all the soldiers stiffening and saluting. Vought coughed as he sat a bit straighter in his bed. "Good afternoon Gentlemen, Colonel Christopher Vought reporting for duty," he said throwing a quick salute.

Generals O'Neill and Landry smirked at each other before returning his salute "Stand down everyone," Landry ordered as everyone relaxed. O'Neill looked at Vought, "Took your sweet time didn't you sleeping beauty?" He said with a raised eyebrow.

Vought looked down before answering, "I'm sorry Sir I tried bu-,"

"Colonel"

Vought's head popped back up.

"Stop blaming yourself, that's a direct order. It wasn't your fault; we had no idea that there was an imminent attack. Had we known we wouldn't have launched you."

He looked down again, "I still failed Sir, I lost people," he sighed, "too many."

O'Neill looked at all of his subordinates and tilted his head towards the door. All of them nodded except for Beckett and Sheppard.

Sheppard and Beckett looked at each other before Sheppard replied. "With all due respect Sir, we're staying. Beckett needs to stay anyway and I need to hear what he as to say. He owes me this." He stated while looking at Chris.

Landry nodded, "Good enough for me Sir."

O'Neill looked at them, "Fine," looking at Vought, "Colonel you ready to move? I want to start your debriefing."

The colonel hesitated before answering, "I will but I need to see her first."

"Her?"

"My wife."

_**May 10, 2018 1530 Hours – Atlantis Infirmary**_

He brushed the women's brown hair as she slept glancing at her peaceful face. He glanced behind him, "Will she be ok?" he asked nervously.

Beckett nodded, "Aye Colonel she should be fine. She woke up once and looked around before falling asleep again. Her vitals are fine; she should be waking again soon." A pause, "What's her name if you don't mind me asking?"

"Jean," Chris replied as patted her hand, "Alright then," glancing at her again and sighing, "I'm ready let's do this." Beckett proceeded to spin the weakened Colonel around in the mandatory wheel chair as they left the Infimary.

_**May 10, 2018 1600 Hours – Atlantis Conference Room**_

The assembled group waited patiently as the colonel wheeled himself to the center of the room and spun to face them. "Alright Sir where do you want me to start?"

"Start from the beginning, the day you disappeared."

"Alright then here we go."

_**June 12, 2014 0600 Hours – Atlantis East Pier, San Francisco Bay**_

"_Damn it General what the hell were you thinking launching then? I may not be superstitious but I mean come on, Friday the 13__th__, at 1313 hours? NASA learned in 1970 this was a bad idea, this isn't rocket sci-… screw it." _Thought Air Force Colonel Christopher Vought angrily as he stomped towards his ship, "_this is bullshit." _As he continued his internal tirade he finally exited the confines of the city onto the East Pier.

Lit up by the cities lights sat his ship floating in the water. The Lantean _Aurora-_class battleship sat proudly alongside the city; her name, _Borealis_, illuminated on her side. Around her sides crews worked around the clock prepping it for a very special mission.

As Vought approached the ship his anger began to subside as he ran his hand along its side still in disbelief that she was HIS. He thought back to the day that it was found and the chain of events that led to him standing here now.

"_Six months ago she was found at that Ancient research center, hidden amongst debris. She was discovered to be a test platform for the Aurora-class. Various additional systems were added that weren't on the built ships. The cloak, the beam weapons, the energy turrets; it was all there. That and the ships interesting AI," _he thought.

His radio squawking tore him from his thoughts, "This is Vought, go ahead."

"_**Sir Colonel Sokolov and his men have arrived."**_

"_Shit… and so it begins." _He thought, "Alright where are they?"

"_**Their ship is pulling alongside East Pier now Sir, General Landry wanted you to meet him there so you can greet our guest."**_

"Understood on my way," Vought replied before performing an about face and walking to the opposite side of the pier.

Slipping alongside the pier the darkened transport ship activated her external lights bathing the ship and the men around her in light, the Russian flag lit on her jack staff. As the ship lowered its boarding ramp Vought arrived next to the current SGC commander Major General Landry.

Landry looked over at his subordinate, "Nervous colonel? They're just Russians, they won't bite …too much." He said with a smirk

Vought rolled his eyes, "No Sir it's just, why Sokolov? I really don't feel comfortable with a Spetsnaz group looking over my shoulder the whole trip."

"Well colonel it was Russia's decision on who they sent; you know how they are right now, they're nervous because they lost the _Korolev _and we are once again the sole country with military space craft. Besides it can't be all bad, did you read their updated manifest?" a glance at the colonel told him no. "Major Volkov and his group were assigned last minute I believe you two are aquatinted?"

The colonel's face lit up, "Major Alexei Volkov? Of the 4th Guards Tank Division?" a nod confirmed his question. "Wow I haven't seen him since… Afghanistan…" he murmured as images floated into his thoughts.

The approaching Russian's snapped him out of it.

Vought observed the two of them as they approached their walk in perfect synch. The taller of the two matched his own height of 6'5", his short blond hair covered by his black beret, a scar ran from his left eye to the bottom of his chin. The name Sokolov was stitched into his uniform. As he wandered over the soldier's uniform his eyes fell on the unit badge and he stiffened, a large "A" with a dagger flashed back at him from the man's shoulder.

"Sir," he whispered to Landry.

"What"

"Do you know which unit Sokolov's with?"

"All I remember is that he is Spetsnaz why?"

"Sir he's with the Alpha Group."

Landry snapped his head to his subordinate, "You sure?"

"Positive Sir, look at his unit patch."

"_Well this isn't good,_" thought Landry, "_The US just agreed to allow FSB members to serve with their crewmen." _He shifted his thoughts as the duo came to halt in front of him.

The pair of them saluted in synch with the larger of the two speaking, "Colonel Vitaly Sokolov, Spetsgruppa "A", Russian Federation."

Landry returned the salute as the shorter of the two began to speak

"Major Alexei Volkov, 4th Guards Tank Brigade, Russian Federation,"

Landry and Vought cut their salutes with the Russians following suit. "We'd like welcome you to Atlantis on behalf of the SGC and the United States," began Landry, "We are glad your government agreed to this joint mission between our two countries."

"Thank you General for having us, this joint mission is indeed an important step in settling our countries nerves," the colonel responded with surprisingly little accent. He looked directly at Vought, "So you must be Colonel Vought, I have heard much about you colonel, I look forward to being able to work with you." He stated as he held out his hand.

"Tакже полковник (likewise colonel)," he began while shaking his hand, "this will indeed be an interesting trip."

"Ah so you **do** speak русский (Russian)," he looked at the major, "It seems that you were right Volkov, he is well versed in our language."

The major walked up to Vought. "Привет (Hi) Colonel Vought, it has been too long Sir," he said with his hand out and a smile on his face.

Vought smiled before shaking his hand, "Привет мой друг (Hi my friend), that it has."

As they continued to talk with each other Landry and Sokolov looked at their subordinates in interest before returning to business.

"I'm assuming Colonel that you would like to begin loading the ship," Landry began while the Russian transport began to unload her cargo. "General O'Neill has a deadline and we damn well better meet it."

Sokolov nodded, "Indeed General Sir we will have our supplies loaded within a few hours, we will meet the deadline, where do you want it?"

"Bay 1, the Marines will show you where to go."

_**June 13, 2014 1310 Hours – Atlantis East Pier, San Francisco Bay**_

"Systems check go"

"Propulsion green"

"Shields green"

"Core green"

"Weapons green"

"Sensors green"

"ARD green"

"ZPG spooling up now… green"

The Navy Commander looked around the bridge once before turning to his CO, "All systems are green Sir; we're ready for your final checks." Stated the _Borealis' _XO US Navy Commander Matthew Ross confidently, "All stations are secure."

Vought glanced at his assigned XO and nodded, "Serenity, begin final check sequence, let me know when we're good."

"At once Colonel," Serenity responded before disappearing from view. Vought glanced around the bridge at the men and women under his command.

Commander Ross was yet another late addition to his crew and he didn't regret it. Ever since the Air Force and brought the Marines in on the Stargate program the Navy wanted in but were shot down each time. General O'Neill finally relented and a select few members of the navy were brought in on the program. When they learned of this mission Ross and 74 other navy personnel were selected to participate. Speaking of personnel…

Vought glanced down at his data pad and flicked to the final crew roster. 75 Air Force, 75 Navy, 75 Marines, 150 Russians, and 50 civilian scientists brought the grand total up to 425 of the ships 500 member limit.

Serenity's reappearance brought him back to his to his senses, "Colonel, all of the ships systems are ready to go. We can launch whenever you are ready."

He glanced at his watch, the time 1312 showing back at him, "_and so it begins_." "Alright prepare to launch."

Lt. Colonel Lorne and most of the Gate Operations team crowded on the balcony overlooking the city as they waited for the ship to launch, "_Borealis_ this is Atlantis, you're clear to launch."

As they waited the sea behind the ship began to broil as the sublight engines began to produce thrust. A whine was heard as the engines reached the proper thrust and the _Borealis_ lifted off at exactly 1313 hours water pouring off of her lower hull as she gained altitude. The staff burst into cheers as the ship activated its cloak and began to accelerate up to space. Lorne went back inside to the communications console and activated it, "Good launch _Borealis_ god speed and we'll see you on the other side," he called with a grin on his face. A short pause before he heard his response, "thanks Atlantis, it felt good, we'll bring you back a souvenir, _Borealis_ out."

_**June 13, 2014 1316 Hours – Borealis bridge, Low Earth Orbit**_

"All systems good Sir, orbit established," a technician called out to the Commander.

Ross turned to Vought, "Sir we have a good orbit you can leave the chair."

Vought opened his eyes as he deactivated the control chair. The chair spun forward as it sat him upright before the lights turned off.

He stretched as he got up, "such a weird experience Ross you should try it," he said with a grin.

"I think I'll pass Sir."

"Suit yourself," he walked over to the comms station and activated it. "Attention all hands, this is Colonel Vought speaking, to reiterate our mission we have been tasked with testing Dr. McKay's rebuilt Alternate Reality Drive. As many of you are aware we are completing this mission jointly with the Russians so that can learn from us for when they begin exploring the stars again." He paused, "We have no idea what we will run into so we need to be ready for anything. This ship will remain in orbit for the time being, as we make sure the ARD is functioning properly and that the ZPG is not going to fail. If it all checks out well, we will have our maiden jump tonight. Secure your stations and help prepare the ship, Vought out."

Vought shut the console off and walked away. "How'd I do?"

Ross nodded, "Couldn't have done it better myself Sir," he looked behind Vought, "What did you think Sir?"

Colonel Sokolov nodded as well, "Very nicely done Vought, I wish to thank you again helping to mesh our people. I know some Americans still have issues working with the big bad Reds."

Vought met Ross's eyes as they both smirked at the comment, "I try my best Sokolov, I try my best. Ladies and Gentlemen let's get this old girl ready for her jump."

_**June 13, 2014 1700 Hours – Daedalus bridge, Low Earth Orbit**_

Colonel Caldwell looked out his ships forward window at the 3-km long battleship shaking his head. "_Vought must be trying to compensate for something."_ He thought while grinning.

The _Daedalus_ and _Apollo_ were on escort duty for the Lantean ship; protecting her as she went through her final checks before her jump. Thinking back to the mission Caldwell remembered when Sheppard and his team and gotten stuck on the alternate _Daedalus_ and almost were almost lost. Only McKay was able to save them. He shook his head, "_No,"_ he thought, _"this isn't like that, McKay is better than he was this will wo-"_

His thoughts were interrupted by an alarm, "Status?"

"Sir 6 Ha'taks just dropped out of hyperspace, they're targeting all of us!"

"Shields now!" he managed to yell out as the enemy barrage began.

_Borealis bridge - Low Earth Orbit_

Only the bare minimum of crew were on the bridge, Vought included as the rest of the command staff left to get a tour of the ship by Dr. Evan Lansby, colleague of one Dr. Rodney McKay. The bridge was quite as everyone readied themselves for their imminent jump. While Vought and Sokolov conserved at the back, a lone technician had his attention drawn to the forward window as 6 Goa'uld Ha'taks appeared out of hyperspace.

"Sir?" he began

Vought turned around and froze before running to the nearest console, "SHIELDS," he yelled as he reached for the comms, "All hands brace for impact!" he managed to let out as the enemy fire smacked into his ship.

The _Borealis _lurched as the concentrated weapons fire smashed into them before her shields went up. The lights flickered and failed in various portions of the ship as consoles exploded. The ships artificial gravity failed for a moment throwing men and equipment around like flotsam in a storm.

As the shields went up and the ship went to battle stations Vought fell back into the control chair. "Status?"

"Sir ventral shield emitter hit and failing, the nav computer took a hit hyperdrive is offline.

"_Damn it there goes running," _he thought dryly. "Weapon status?"

"All weapons offline sir looks like they hit a power junction…transporters offline as well."

"_Shit not a lot of options,_" "Alright launch the 302s and get the _Apollo _below us. I'll start moving us away."

Towards the rear of the Ancient battleship F-302s began launching from its modified bay in flights of two. Once clear of the ship the fighters began taking a defensive formation around her.

Within the ship however a problem began to arise as the ZPG surged from the first impact. The surge had one unintended side effect as the ARD began an uncontrolled startup. The command staff surged back onto the bridge as the battle raged on around them, the radios a mess with chatter from the other ships and Earth as they tried to defend against the attack.

Vought noticed that some of them appeared banged up with Ross sporting a bleeding forehead. He looked around for the person he needed, "Ross where's Lansby? We need him."

"Unconscious Sir, he got thrown into a bulkhead, Pierce says he's going to be out for a while." Ross responded as he nursed his head. "What's the situa-"

"COLONEL!"

Vought turned to the scientist yelling, "What?"

"It's the ARD, it's started charging and I can't stop it!"

The bridge went silent as the knowledge sank in. "Serenity cut the connection!" silence, "Serenity?"

"She's offline Sir"

Vought looked around, "somebody get down to the ARD now before we jump, quickly!" The room burst into action as a group rushed off deeper into the ship. He looked at the scientist, "How much time do we have?"

"About 1 minute Sir"

Vought slumped into the control chair, "recall the 302s, they don't have time to land in the bay have them land on the hull." He reached for the radio, "To all Homeworld Security forces this is Colonel Vought of the _Borealis_. We have sustained damage to our alternate reality drive and are about to perform an uncontrolled jump."

The 6 of the 8 launched 302s landed on the ship with number 7 and 8 on their tails.

"This ship will return, sorry we can't help clean up this mess."

302 number 7 landed on the ship as the _Borealis_ vanished in a blinding flash of light.

302 number 8 paused its mad dash before turning around and heading to the nearest engagement. The pilot was damn sure he was going to help someone since he failed to protect his ship.

_Daedalus bridge, Low Earth Orbit_

Caldwell was stunned at this report and he fell back in his chair as he looked at the place the _Borealis _once inhabited. Anger growing within he turned back to the battle at hand. "_These bastards are going to pay_," as the _Daedalus_ charged back into battle he thought back to Vought, "_You better come back Colonel, you better come back._"

_**June 13, 1945 0900 Hours – 501**__**st**__** Joint Fighter Wing Base, Venezia**_

Flying Officer Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen sat in her room she shared with Sanya and sighed. Sanya had woken her up as usual upon returning from her night patrol and promptly fell asleep. She was incredibly bored so she was sitting at her desk playing with a pencil when she sighed again. Glancing to her left she spied her tarot cards and put down the pencil. Shrugging she pulled them out, "_Might as well see what the future holds," _she thought to herself as she set them up.

Drawing the first she flipped it over displaying the Wheel of Fortune, "_Hm interesting,"_ she thought, "_Maybe I should tell Commander Minna about this, we should prepare for anything."_ Before continuing however she was suddenly struck by a vision.

After recovering from the vision she jumped up. "_I need to talk to the Commander now!"_ she thought as she bolted out of the room. By the time she made it to the end of the hall however the alarm went off causing her to slide to a halt. "Oh no the Neuroi!"

**Well guys here you go, hopefully this explains a lot more than the first chapter did. I'm planning on getting the next chapter out in a few days before I slow it down to a maybe once a week update. As promised the crossover has started "Hoorah," I hope it works out well. Since I have Russian soldiers in my story I have them speaking some Russian, if you need me to translate it let me know. I really don't want to keep leaving the translation in the story so just tell me. Ghostrider21 signing off**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Where the Hell are We?**

**Hello again Ghostrider21 back up for another exciting chapter. This is where the crossover really begins and it's going to be fun. Two chapters in and I already have 199 views and I'm happy with that. As a programmer writing isn't exactly my forte, unless its code and then I'm quite good at it. Anyway I don't own Strike Witches or Stargate, my OCs are mine; you can't have then without asking. So just realized I double posted chapter 2 and nobody caught it. Sorry about this little issue everyone my fault. So you guys get a two for one; one chapter tonight and one tomorrow. Remember guys feel free to yell at me if I do that again. Now back to the studio…I mean story. **

_**Previously **_

_302 number 7 landed on the ship as the Borealis vanished in a blinding flash of light. _

_**June 13, 1945 0900 Hours – 501**__**st**__** Joint Fighter Wing Base, Venezia**_

_After recovering from the vision she jumped up. "I need to talk to the Commander now!" she thought as she bolted out of the room. By the time she made it to the end of the hall however the alarm went off causing her to slide to a halt. "Oh no the Neuroi!"_

_**Date unknown 1900 Hours (ship time) – Borealis bridge, Low Earth Orbit**_

He groaned as he pulled himself off the deck, grabbing his head as he looked at the sorry state the bridge was in. Haze floated in the room, visible from the arcing conduits exposed overhead. The lights flickered on and off at random intervals increasing his already throbbing headache. The crew was strewn all over, hanging on consoles, laying on the deck and one unfortunate soul even partially out in the hallway. Looking at the crew he began seeing movement as they rolled and moaned from the surprisingly violent jump. A glance at the one function HUD showed nothing in orbit with them. He continued his observations until he was distracted by a blinking light.

"This is the _Borealis_ go ahead," Colonel Vought radioed as he stood up.

"_**Sir it's good to hear your voice this is Reaper-1, we've been trying to contact you guys for the past 30 minutes.**_" Reported one of the ships F-302 pilots, "_**We're still stuck outside if you want to let us in.**_"

"Negative if you've still got O2 and ammo continue your patrol. We don't know who's here or what danger we could be in. Until we wake the crew you guys need to stay out there."

"_**Understood Sir, Reaper-1 out."**_

A groan caught his ears as cut his transmission causing him to spin around; Commander Ross was coming to. Walking over to his subordinate he grabbed his arm and helped pull him to his feet. "You ok Ross any brain damage? Hitting your head twice in one day can't be too good for you," he joked.

Ross just glared as the two of them went to helping the rest of the wakening crew. Vought helped Colonel Sokolov sit up, "You alright Sokolov, what's up with the arm?"

"Hет it's broken, and badly," he stated while grimacing.

"Alright then le-"

"_**Bridge this is engineering anybody alive up there?" **_the intercom squawked.

He made his way over to his chair, "We're a little worse for wear up here but we're still in one piece. That you Tom?" he inquired.

"_**Negative Sir Lt. Stanson and two others were killed in the attack, this is Ensign Decker. We're trying to get as many systems on right now as we can but we have a problem."**_

"What is it?"

"_**Sir, engine 1 is the only one functioning and judging from the telemetry were getting the ship is in a decaying orbit."**_

"_Shit can this get any worse can it?" _Vought thought to himself as the crew tried fixing what they could.

"Colonel we-we have another problem," one of the scientist stuttered out.

"_You've got to be kidding me… Friday the 13__th__ you are going to be the death of me."_ "What is it?"

"We're venting atmosphere."

_2 Hours later_

"Alright then ladies and gentlemen, here's the deal… the ship is in a decaying orbit and in two hours we will all be a little toasty." The assembled group looked at each other uneasily. "To make matters worse the damage we sustained pretty much removed the ventral shield emitter and we are venting atmosphere. Even if we could break orbit with only one engine, we would suffocate within four hours."

A hand raised, "Sir what about the Asgard core? Couldn't we just plug the leak and produce O2 that way?"

Vought sighed as he ran his hand down the back of his head, "The core's control interface was destroyed in the attack and the only thing that can activate it now is Serenity and she's offline until Evan wakes."

The group began to murmur as they tried to think up a solution. Vought looked around and found who he was looking for, one of the few red heads in the room, "Bale what do you think? You have any ideas?"

The murmuring stopped as 2nd Lieutenant Sarah Bale stood up, "Sir the only option I see is landing." Everyone looked at her as she continued, "Look I've done the calculations and if we keep our trajectory shallow, we have a 90% chance of surviving the landing; 95% if we land in the water even with only one engine. We know for a fact the cloak is still working because it activated itself like always and the 302s lost us for a few minutes. We can successfully hide down there but we need to do it soon, we get too low and we won't be able to correct our approach." She stated as she sat down.

Vought smiled as he looked at Ross who nodded, they had both come to the same conclusion. "Alright then Lieutenant plan the course and the burn data, you have an hour."

Bale nodded as she left the conference room.

Vought looked to the remaining crew, "Alright then, we have 75 minutes before we need to start our descent, get the ship secured and ready for reentry." As the remainder of the crew stood up to leave Vought activated his radio.

"Alright Reaper 1 take three others and go find us a landing location. Stay hidden and do NOT under any circumstance start a firefight. This ship is going to start burning up soon; our window appears to be Europe so find us a secluded location."

"_**Understood Sir, Reaper and Hydra flights will recon the area, Hunter and Knife flights will stay with the ship.**_"

He keyed his radio, "Roger that Reaper that sounds good you're clear to break formation."

Outside the ship four of the 302s broke formation and began a sharp descent into the atmosphere.

_Reaper 1 – Captain Carl "Edge" Grant, 25,000 ft. over the Atlantic_

"_Something's bugging me but I don't know what…" _thought Grant as the 4 F-302s cut through the sky at 3500 mph. Grant and his wingman were running low CAP while Hydra flight took the high CAP at 40,000 ft.

"_**Hey Slim,"**_he called over the radio to Hydra 1, "_**You notice anything since we reentered? Something's been bugging me and I have no idea what it is, over."**_

"_**It wouldn't happen to be the shape of the continents would it? I noticed it too they're… off to some degree. We should check it when we get back into orbit."**_

Grant shook his head in wonder, their first trip and they had already discovered something different. Looking at his mapping radar he could see land on the very edge of the screen and a quick look out the canopy confirmed it. They were approaching Ireland.

Above him Hydra flight took formation and began scanning the ground that Reaper flight flew over. The mission was tedious but important. In orbit the _Borealis _repaired her long range receiver and paired up with the relay satellite she dropped, she was able to see every image the fighters recorded. With the scanning of Ireland showing no good places to hide, the fighters banked over and began hiding south with France on the horizon.

_15 minutes later_

The 302s had slowed down to prevent being detected by sound. Passing near Dover the pilots received their first signs of technology.

"_**Hey lead I'm picking up a radar, it isn't strong enough to paint me but still it's there, you getting it too?" **_called Reaper-2.

Grant looked at his threat receiver and sure enough, he was getting a signal, "_**Borealis you seeing this?"**_ Grant waited for a response.

"_**Affirmative Reaper-1, judging by the frequency and power output I'd put the current technology level of the Earth around World War II. Keep your altitude over 35,000 to avoid any collisions or sightings, Borealis out."**_

"_**Copy all Borealis Reaper flight climbing to safe altitude."**_ He called out as he signaled his wingman to climb. "_**Hydra, climb to Angels 50 and continue scanning, keep speed under Mach 2."**_

"_**Copy Reaper, initiating climb."**_

The 302s continued there southern scan, unbeknownst to them, they were about to make first contact.

_**Date unknown 2200 Hours (ship time)– Reaper-1 – Captain Carl "Edge" Grant, 35,000 ft. over the Mediterranean **_

After failing to find a location and the shrinking number of landing locations the flight of four cut over Spain and began scanning it and France with their sights set on Italy as they increased speed to over Mach 5.

Grant's radio came to life, "_**Reaper-1 this is the Borealis how copy, over?"**_

"_**Roger Borealis, send traffic," **_Grant responded.

"_**We think we found a landing location in the Med, you can stop your scanning."**_

"_**Roger Borealis, Reaper and Hydra RTB at this time;" **_a short pause filled the airwaves before the ship responded.

"_**Uh negative RTB at this time Reaper, standby for new orders."**_

"_New orders huh, things are about to get interesting…" _thought Grant while tightening his oxygen mask. By this point in time the 302s had begun flying over Italy streaking towards the Adriatic Sea.

"_Wonder what these new orders are _SHIT!" exclaimed Grant, his threat receiver bleated a warning as he yanked on his control stick, a ruby beam of light passing through where he was. "_**What the hell was that? -2 you see where that came from?"**_

"_**Uh yes but… I don't believe it."**_

Grant rolled over and looked back down to see what was going on. What he saw made his jaw drop in his mask. _**"Where the hell are their pants?!"**_

_**June 13, 1945 1100 Hours – 501**__**st**__** JFW, Skies of Venezia**_

"_Damn it there's so many of them," _thought Eila as she dodged a Neuroi, firing her MG 42 at it as she past it; her sustained fire finally ending it in a burst of white shards.

The 501st scrambled to intercept the unscheduled Neuroi attack and for the past hour had been battling it. The single Neuroi turned out be a large carrier type and it kept dispensing smaller ones. What should have been a short battle was turning for the worse as the Witches were quickly losing magic.

Eila dropped in altitude as her magic alerted her to a threat. She corkscrewed in the air as the Neuroi ignored her and made a beeline for Major Sakamoto. She raised her gun and pulled the trigger only for it to click. "_Not now!"_ "Major look out," she called as she tried to clear the jam.

The major was scanning the carrier type for its core so that they could end the battle, "_Damn it where is it."_ She growled as she continued to scan when she heard Eila call out. Spinning around she had no time to react as the small winged creature began charging its laser. "_Not enough time," _she calculated as she reached for her sword getting ready to take the hit. The Neuroi fired, only to slam into a large shield. The creature bleated in surprise before being destroyed by Lt. Hartmann.

"Thanks Miyafuji, nicely done."

Yoshika smiled and panted as dropped her shield, her magic reserves reaching the critical point. "Thanks Major I'm glad I helped."

The Major frowned as she looked at Miyafuji and the others around her. "_We can't keep this up much longer; we'll run out of magic soon. We need to attack now!" _"Hartmann, Barkhorn, Yeager form up we need to press an attack on the carrier; Bishop cover us."

"R-Roger that Ma'am I'll try my best," responded Lynette as she floated away from the battlefield, her Boys Anti-tank rifle at the ready. She sighted in on the major and her group as they fought their way towards the carrier type. She noticed Yoshika and Francesca hanging back looking visibly tired and this strengthened her; she was going to protect her friends.

_Reaper-1 – Captain Carl "Edge" Grant, 35,000 ft. over the battle_

"_**Borealis please advise over, these kids are getting their asses kicked!" **_Grant was visibly worried; after the initial shock of seeing a bunch of teenage girls flying around with propellers on their feet, wearing no pants and carrying heavy weapons, the orbiting fighters noticed that they were on their last legs. They could see the younger two of the group hanging back breathing heavily with one of the older girls protecting them. The four eldest of the group were making an impressive charge towards the enemy but years of experience told him that they weren't going to make it. He gripped his control stick with white knuckles while growling, they needed to make a move soon or these girls were going to die.

"_**Reaper-1 weapons free, eliminate the bandits and head to the following coordinates, we are beginning reentry."**_

Grant grinned as he snapped his visor down locking the coordinates for after the fight, "_**All flights we're cleared to engage take combat spacing."**_

"_**Two"**_

"_**Roger Hydra engaging."**_

The quartet of fighters went into trailing formations, rolled and nosed over towards the enemy targets, attack radars on.

"_**Tally-ho," **_Grant heard as they reached visual range of their targets. His radar beeping and growled as it locked onto the first target he could see, the carrier. "_**Reaper-1, Fox Three,"**_ he called as the AMRAAM leapt off the rail, streaking towards the target.

The missile screeched in at 4 times the speed of sound; its active seeker head locked firmly on the large alien. Within seconds the missile reached the target and detonated blowing a large hole in it causing it to screech in pain. He waited for his wingman to launch.

"_**Reaper-2 is gadget bent, extending," **_he heard from his wingman as he pulled up, "_Shit this is not what we need. Hope Hydra does better." _he thought as he formed up with his wingman for another pass.

_Hydra-1- Captain Richard "Slim" Michaels_

Michaels checked his weapons load noting he only had one missile left and half of his remaining gun ammo. He looked at his wingman hoping his beam weapons were functioning because besides those, he had no missiles remaining. He shrugged as he snapped his visor down; there was no way he could let these girls get hurt. Watching Reaper-1 hit the large target he switched to his railguns sighting in two of the smaller enemies as they stopped their attack on the girls and switched their attention to them.

He entered range, "_**Hydra-1, Guns, Guns, Guns,**_" he called as he depressed the trigger, throwing hypersonic slugs downrange. His targets exploded into white shards as he pulled up, vortices forming from his wingtips as he slammed the throttle to max. "_**Splash two,**_**" **he called while glancing to his right. He watched his wingman take a hit, shields shinning white.

"_**Hydra-2, Guns, Guns, Guns,"**_ his wingman called as he dove, twin beams of blue light stabbing out from the front of his fighter. The two streams of superheated plasma streaked down and punched through three of the bandits causing them to vanish just like their brethren, "_**Splash three.**_" As he began to pull up the bandits finally retaliated throwing red beams back at them.

Both members of Hydra flight rolled and juked their nimble fighter across the sky; inertial dampeners struggling to keep up. When -2 took the hit he calmly shrugged it off, his shields taking it in stride as the beam dissipated. As Michaels and his wingman went extended for another go, Reaper flight began their next pass.

_Reaper-1 – Captain Carl "Edge" Grant_

"_**-2 what's your status,"**_ Grant inquired to his unfortunate wingman, besides his missiles, Reaper-2 was out of ammo.

"_**Three minutes for a reset Lead, orders?"**_

"_Damn only one option then," _he thought, "_**-2 take lead, launch boresight."**_

"_**Roger -1 taking lead, engaging," **_Reaper-2 called, pulling ahead. This time the hostiles were prepared for them; the smaller craft racing towards their fighters while the larger craft had turned to face them. It was at this point in time that Grant noticed that the hole he put in the large craft was almost completely gone. "_It's healing itself!" _he thought a knot forming in the pit of his stomach as he remembered the Replicators, the action was quite familiar.

As Reaper pressed the attack, the Neuroi committed themselves to the new threat; completely forgetting about the threat behind them.

_501__st__ JFW, Skies of Venezia_

Mio and the others had stopped their attack when Reaper-1's attack damaged the carrier. Her and the others watched in fascination as the unknown aircraft attacked the Neuroi head on.

"Wow check out those aircraft they look pretty sweet," Captain Shirley Yeager stated as she began drooling. "Wonder if they would let me take a look at one… or maybe even fly one…" she giggled as her eyes began to glaze over.

Mio looked at her subordinate, "Captain Yeager how do you know they're aircraft, they could be a new type of Neuroi; we've seen them attack each other before."

"Nah ma'am their manned, you can tell by the way they maneuver; see that first pair," she indicated as Reaper flight pulled off and climbed. A loud shriek followed by the destruction of two of the small types caused them to turn around. "Look at those weapons, wow I want one of those…" she began before shaking her head, "Anyway see how they fly." She pointed at Hydra-2 as he fired destroying three of the small type. "They're good but they aren't perfect," she began as Hydra-1 pulled off early to dodge an attack. "If they were Neuroi they would be exactly the same distance from each other at all times, or they wouldn't fly in formation like that. Anyway ma'am shouldn't we attack now? I think they forgot about us," she asked pointing with her thumb over her shoulder.

Mio focused on them once again as the large type turned to face the fighters finally noticing something. "The core, I found it! Barkhorn, Yeager, Hartmann on me," she yelled as she ditched her gun and reached for her sword accelerating towards the carrier. Barkhorn and Yeager hot on her heels destroying the small types that remained behind, with Hartmann taking up the rear.

"_Just a bit closer and this will end,"_ she thought her sword shinning as she pumped as much of her magic as possible into it. Spinning around one final small type she entered range. "It's time to end this!" she yelled Reppumaru shinning white over her head. "REPPUZAN!" the large blade of energy bisecting the carrier; the core finally destroyed the remaining small types exploded ending the nearly two hour fight. "_It is done,"_ she thought while panting, the shards of the Neuroi falling all around her. She finally noticed somebody had been trying to contact her.

"_**Mio damn it what's your status**_, _**answer me!**_" Mio chuckled as she heard Minna's worried voice. Her chuckle turned into her loud, booming laugh as Minna continued to worry. "I'm fine, Commander, we're all fine. The fight just took a little longer than normal," she responded, her one visible eye twinkling. Her smile dropped, "we did have a little help though," she added while looking up at the orbiting fighters.

"_**Damn it Mio answer faster next time,"**_ she sobbed, "_**I thought we lost you." **_Her voice steeled before continuing, "_**What do you mean by help? Eila mentioned something about some aircraft assisting you, which unit are they with, I'd like to thank them."**_

"_Which unit indeed, we have no idea what they even are." _"Unknown Commander we don't recognize what they are or even the type of weapons they're using. They tore through the small types with ease and even managed to severely damage the large type. What was strange though was they didn't press their attack, they broke off and began picking off the small types."

"_**Interesting do they appear hostile?" **_

She looked up at the fighters again as the rest of the witches grouped up; Lucchini holding onto Yeager preventing her from flying up to them and Bishop squeezing the life out of Miyafuji. She shook her head happy Clostermann wasn't here otherwise she would never hear the end of it. Looking at the fighters she finally responded. "I don't think so commander, they assisted us and now it seems they are waiting for us to leave before moving on."

"_**Have you tried contacting them yet? We need to thank them and find out who they are with."**_

"No commander we haven't, I'll try to contact them now," she fiddled with her radio, "Attention unknown aircraft…"

_Reaper-1 – Captain Carl "Edge" Grant_

"_**Attention unknown aircraft this is Major Mio Sakamoto of the 501**__**st**__** Joint Fighter Wing, we'd like to thank you for your assistance today; we couldn't have won without it, please respond over," **_Grant heard through his headset.

Since the fight had started, the _Borealis_ had cracked the relatively non-existent encryption on the ladies radios and transmitted the codes to the 302s. They had been monitoring them ever since.

Grant looked down at them as the circled above. He identified the one speaking as the one that had cut the large bandit in half, with a freaking sword of all things. What the hell was going on? "_**Borealis please advise over."**_

He waited for a response, "_**Edge this is Crosshair," **_he stiffened as he realized who was speaking, "_**Go ahead and respond, we're going to have to make first contact sooner or later we might as well start with a good impression." **_He paused before continuing, "_**No names, no country, no rank, and no classified information; is that understood?"**_

"_**Copy all Crosshair**_," he took a deep breath before keying his transmitter, "_**We copy Major, this is… Edge, glad to be of assistance."**_

_501__st__ JFW, Skies of Venezia_

"_**We copy Major; this is… Edge, glad to be of assistance."**_

The Witches continued to hover as they listened to their radios. Mio smiled before transmitting, "It's nice to finally meet you Edge; we've got a few questions for you and your wingmen if you don't mind following us back to our base. We can get these questions answered and can thank your command." As she waited for his response, another voice began transmitting.

"Hey Edge what kind of aircraft is that I've never seen anything like it before, you mind sharing anything about it? When you come back with us you mind letting me sit in the cockpit, maybe let me take it for a spin?"

Mio glared at Captain Yeager, "That was highly uncalled for Captain we don't know anything about these people."

Shirley rolled her eyes, "Major if they wanted to hurt us they would have done it by now. I'm just trying to start some small talk."

"_**Uh thanks for the offer major but we can't accept your request at this time, as for the other request; I can't share anything about it, no, and no sorry ma'am maybe next time."**_

"Ah man next time then huh Edge? I'll hold you to that."

The girls heard him chuckle before he continued, "_**I trust you'll try that."**_ A pause before he continued, "_**Before we leave however…"**_

Mio raised an eyebrow at the amusement she detected in his voice before some movement caught her eye. One of the ships above them dropped into a steep dive headed straight for them. As the girls raised their weapons she held out her hand to stop them; just what was this man going to do?

Right before running into them the strange craft rolled inverted, pulled a hard bank, and flew directly over them, with no more than a meter of separation. The girls looked on in wonder as the masked pilot looked down on them and raise one hand in salute as he passed over. After passing over them the nimble craft flipped over once again and stood on its tail, fire spewing from its exhaust as it climbed straight up to regroup with the others. As the fighters grouped up they began to climb; the girls watched as they all wagged their wings before disappearing into the clouds; a sonic boom was heard as the unseen craft accelerated away.

Yeager climbed up into the clouds to watch them leave. "What do you see captain?" inquired Mio.

"They're gone major, I can't see anything."

"_What an interesting group?" _she smiled as she began to laugh, "What interesting men indeed."

"Um I don't know if this is right time to say this but I may have seen those ships in a vision…"

"WHAT!" all the girls turned to look at Eila as she shrugged with a nervous smile on her face.

_**June 14, 1945 1200 Hours – Unmarked Island, 250 miles off the coast of Rome**_

The entire crew assembled in jumper bay 2 waiting for the Colonel to begin his briefing of the situation.

Vought walked into the bay looking haggard, he still hadn't slept since they had arrived in this reality and the news he carried made him feel worse. He walked up to the makeshift podium as he gazed upon the men and women under his command.

"Ladies and gentlemen here is our situation. From what we've manged to gather the year is 1945 and unlike our world, all of Earth has united in a mission to fight the alien invaders known as the Neuroi." A screen flickered to life behind him showing an image of the Neuroi recorded by Hydra-1. "According to the reports we've intercepted conventional forces are practically useless against them. The only weapon humanity has against these invaders are groups of young women known as Witches with unknown abilities." The screen changed to show Major Sakamoto cutting the Neuroi in half.

He sighed before going on, "As most of you know," staring straight at the guilty party in question, "We have made first contact with a group known as the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, and we tracked their radio signals back to their base." The screen changed again showing the aerial view of a large castle. "While the group knows we exist, they have no idea who, or where we are. Based on the reports we've gathered the 501st has been the most successful of the fighter wings but this information is only based on what's in the region; we will be deploying a satellite soon to gather more data, anyway onward to ship status."

Vought pulled out a data pad as he went on, "We sustained substantial damage during the attack and lost a few key systems." A blown-up view of the ship appeared on the screen; damaged systems highlighted, "We have a major hull breach on deck 4, and have lost power to our defensive weapon systems. The ventral shield emitters are mostly destroyed and have one functioning engine. Until three hours ago the 302 bay was sealed shut by a stray energy blast and we left one 302 back home leaving us with 15 fighters." The Colonel had a sad look in his eyes as he continued again, "In the attack we lost five people including engineering head Lt. Tom Stanson." The crew lowered in heads in a moment of silence for their fallen comrades.

"Our primary goal is to get this ship fully operational and back into orbit; based on what we seen this creatures are unable to climb into space. We need to get up there as soon as possible. Crew dismissed."

As the crew stood up to begin exiting the door slid open revealing a heavily bandaged man as he limped into the bay glancing behind him; his short blond hair barely visible. He glanced forward as everyone gathered stared at him with interest; his eyes scanned the bay till he found who he was looking for. "Colonel," he yelled as he limped across the room.

Vought looked up to see Dr. Evan Lansby, the ships head scientist, moving towards him. "Lansby what the hell are you doing out of medical, I thought Pierce told you not to leave?"

Lansby adjusted his glasses as he came up to Vought and his staff, "It's important Colonel," he responded. Vought nodded and beckoned the Doctor to continue, "Sir…"

As the doctor finished his report the staff was rocked; Vought punched the wall angrily, "_Damn it, stupid Friday the 13__th__…this isn't fair." _The colonel slowly turned around and approached the podium again, the crew waiting silently for him to speak.

"Dr. Lansby has just updated me on the status of the ARD." He began the room dead silent as the crew stood waiting. "The drive is in one piece however…" he looked straight at them, "The nav computer memory was damaged; we have no idea how to get home."

**Well ladies and gentlemen another chapter ready for deployment. I had fun writing this one, I hope you guys like it too. Anyway I've decided I'm going to try and update every Friday. Depending on my mood I might throw a chapter up early. Still need a beta or two. See you next time, Ghostrider21 signing off. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Awkward Introductions **

**Hey guys, a wild update appeared! I'm beginning to dig writing this so hopefully I don't go on any hiatus; at least for a while. Nothing else to see here move along. Anyway I don't own Strike Witches or Stargate, my OCs are mine; you can't have then without asking. **

_**Previously **_

"_Dr. Lansby has just updated me on the status of the ARD." He began the room dead silent as the crew stood waiting. "The drive is in one piece however…" he looked straight at them, "The nav computer memory was damaged; we have no idea how to get home."_

_**June 20, 1945 1000 Hours- Jumper 3, Pescara, Venezia**_

It had been six days since the crew learned they had no idea how to get home. Sure they could get back but they didn't know the subspace frequency of their reality; it was like being blindfolded and spun in a chair and then being told to walk Kansas. Sure it was possible, just not very likely. Since then the crew had to get to work, they let their emotions go and focused completely on their job. They wouldn't have to worry about getting home if they were all killed would they?

Ever since the engagement with the Neuroi, the ship stayed constantly cloaked; only shutting it off to fix the hole in the hull. Four 302s stayed on a nearly round the clock CAP above the crippled ship and it would remain like that until the _Borealis _could repair her sensors. Puddle Jumpers were also launched to gather intelligence on the world.

One of these Jumpers was dispatched to keep an eye on the young ladies that made up the 501st JFW.

"This is really weird lieutenant, how long we going to sit here watching these guys I'm starting to feel kinda dirty." SSgt. Sam Arnold inquired, "I mean this the third day in a row we've been watching these girls parade around pant-less.

"We're here until the colonel says to stop; you know that,"1st Lt. Alex Nemes responded, "Now sergeant go back to the Vita I know you're hiding in your pocket I'll continue the watch." Arnold immediately looked away as he guiltily grabbed his chest pocket and moved into the Jumper's rear. He turned to the other in the front with him, "What do you think of all this Sir?"

Maj. Volkov shrugged as he watched the staff sergeant leave, "No idea лейтенант, this is all very strange to me. I had heard rumors, about the Stargate program, but I had no idea it would be anything like this."

The lieutenant nodded at the response, "Thank you sir, I know what you mean; I've been in the program for over a year now expecting adventure and seeing new sights. Instead of new sights I was assigned to Atlantis to begin training as a Jumper pilot cause I have the ATA gene." He shrugged, "Life's a bitch isn't it sir? Out of curiosity do you have the gene as well?"

Volkov nodded, "Да, Colonel Vought told me he was going to walk me through the basic operation but, we sort ran into a brick wall…"

Nemes smiled, "It's so true sir," he looked behind the major, "I could teach you the basics if you'd like. Grab that scanner behind you." The major turned around to find the item in question.

_501__st__ JFW base-_ _Pescara, Venezia_

"Run faster you three, you're not going to get any stronger if you walk like that." Maj. Sakamoto ordered as she banged her training sword on the ground. Mio had been running Miyafuji, Bishop, and Clostermann around for the past two hours. They needed to get stronger but no matter how hard she tried, they failed to achieve her goals.

"_I, can't, go on," _thought Miyafuji as she finally collapsed in a heap on the ground, "_Owie." _As she struggled to move, Lynette and Perrine fell on top of her.

The three girls groaned as they lay there in pain. Mio shook her head in disgrace, "Honestly you three should be ashamed of yourselves," she looked at the location of the sun. "Alright that will be it for today, go get yourselves cleaned up."

"Yes Ma'am," the three managed to say, too tired to stand up. She watched as the three finally pulled themselves off the ground and began to stagger towards the base. As she went to follow she stopped and turned around to look out over the base, "_It feels like someone is watching me… bah forget it."_ She turned and began to follow the girls back to the base.

_Jumper 3, Pescara, Venezia_

"Was it just me or was she looking right at us?" Nemes asked the Volkov. "Да, she is scary," he replied while nodding.

_1200 Hours - Unmarked Island, 250 miles off the coast of Rome_

Vought sat at his desk in his quarters and sighed as he turned the video recorder off. He had just completed the previous days debriefing and leaned back in his chair to stare at the ceiling. Since the crew had discovered that they couldn't go home right away moral had dropped to an all-time low and he could see it on everyone's' faces. It killed him that he could do nothing about it either. "_Hopefully Lansby will think of something," _thought the colonel as he saw something on his desk. He grabbed the data pad as he reviewed the information his people had collected on this reality. WWI in his world turned out to be a loss against these alien invaders. It wasn't until 1935 that humanity began to successfully fight back with the development of the striker unit. He had no idea how it functioned but it appeared to be successful.

Continuing reading he read that the group of witches he had people shadowing was a legendary group that had managed to free France, what they called Gallia, from the Neuroi. Now this group was trying to defend Italy, what they called Venezia, from the same fate. He shook his head, "_Child soldiers, that's so stupid," _he thought thinking back to the horrors in Afghanistan and Iraq. "_At least these kids are helping others instead of killing them." _Thinking back to the situation at hand he spun in his chair as he activated his radio, "Ross, Sokolov, Pierce, and Lansby, meet me in the briefing room in five minutes; I have something I want to run by you guys."

_15 minutes later_

"And that's my plan, thoughts?" Vought stated as he sat down staring at his fellow officers. None of them looked angry with the idea but none looked like they were for it either.

"So let me get this straight Chris, you want us," Air Force Captain Frank Pierce, the ships chief medical officer, asked as he pointed at everyone in the room, "to risk our lives to help save this reality?"

"That about sums it up Doc, you like it?"

"Damn straight I do, we can't let these people needlessly die; besides that girl Bishop reminds me of my daughter." Pierce replied leaning forward a smile on his face.

"Lansby?"

The doctor in question just shrugged. Vought rolled his eyes as he continued.

Chris turned to Ross, "How about you commander?"

"As much as I don't think we can, we need to; the doc is right, we need to help these people out; we have the technology. Besides with the core still offline we can't produce any food and we can't start depleting our sealed storage this early into the mission. We are going to need supplies."

"Alright товарищ, it's your turn now." The colonel stated as he looked at his amused counterpart.

Sokolov smirked and shook his head before answering, "Though I believe it is a waste of resources, Commander Ross is correct; we need access to supplies and this is the only way I see it happening. I would make one small suggestion."

"Oh what's that?"

"If we do decide to make an alliance with these people it can't be with a nation in particular, we don't want to have an incident like with the Tollans," Vought raised his eyebrows at this and Sokolov smirked, "Please colonel you know which group I'm with; you know I had access to this information."

"Just what information don't you have?"

Sokolov just shrugged, Vought rolled his eyes before speaking, "Alright it's settled then, we're going to introduce ourselves to the 501st.

_**June 22, 1945 1300 Hours-501**__**st**__** JFW base-**__**Pescara, Venezia**_

The young redhead looked out the window onto the base before returning to her desk and the stack of paperwork that she swore never seemed to shrink. As she sat down and rubbed her sore hand, she picked up the pen once more, and began writing. "_You know I always thought the Neuroi would be the death of me not this," _she said to herself as she continued to fill out equipment request.

The monotonous task was interrupted in an welcomed way as her door flew open. "Commander you need to see this," Major Sakamoto stated as she barged in, "we're needed in the command room."

"What is it?" asked Wing Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke, as she got up to follow her subordinate out.

"We don't know."

_Command Room, five minutes later_

"Ma'am we have an unknown target approaching the base," a technician called out as Minna and Mio studied the radar scope. "At its present speed it will be here in 15 minutes."

"Is it a Neuroi?"

"I don't believe so ma'am, it appears to have come from the south-west."

"Interesting have you tried to contact it yet then?"

"No ma'am we were waiting for you."

Mio walked over to the console and grabbed the radio, "Attention unknown craft, you are approaching restricted airspace, identify yourself."

A pause filled the room before the target began to transmit, "_**Hello again Major, sorry for the intrusion, but about your offer…"**_

Mio blinked in surprise before turning to Minna, "it's the unknown fighter from the other day."

Minna nodded in understanding before responding, "What offer?"

"Ah, uh I invited the group back to base so we could debrief them. They turned us away before, I wonder what changed?"

Minna looked at her subordinate, "Do you think they are a threat; will they hurt the girls?"

Mio thought hard about their previous run-in before answering, "I don't think so ma'am, they seemed like good gentlemen."

"Alright then clear them to land, get some troops out there and get Barkhorn and Yeager loaded up; let's go meet our guest.

_Reaper-1 – Captain Carl "Edge" Grant_

"_**You think this is a good idea sir sneaking a Jumper in like this?" **_

"_**Edge this is important, we need to show them what we are capable of. Keep flying and land CAREFULLY; we don't want to spook them; they have troops waiting for us."**_

Grant and his wingman continued their slow and steady approach to the base at a constant 5,000 ft. Behind him unseen was a cloaked Jumper containing Vought, Sokolov, Ross, and a defense team of six Spetsnaz. Above them at Angels 60 (60,000 ft) sat Hunter flight just in case. At the base was the other cloaked Jumper with Major Volkov and a four man SG team.

As Grant and his wingman got within 10 miles of the base, their radars beeped alerting them to incoming targets.

"_Stay cool Grant they're just sending someone out to escort us."_ He told himself as he checked to make sure his shields were on. He called out to his wingman as the targets reached visual range, "_**-2 confirm nose is cold."**_

"_**Confirmed, nose is cold."**_

Grant sighed in relief as the two targets, identified as witches, formed up on their wings.

"_**Please follow us to the runway," **_a young, short, silver-haired witch, hefting a nine-shot rocket launcher, asked quietly to him and Reaper-2.

"_**Roger that ma'am forming up on you now."**_ Grant noticed she blushed and turned away from him after he answered. Observing her he realized she had some sort of antenna floating in front on her face and had the ears and tail of what appeared to be a cat. Turning to his right he nearly jumped out of his seat as he found the long, silver-haired witch from the previous day, floating inches away and staring straight at him with an angry look on her face. "_**Stop staring at Sanya like that!"**_

Grant blinked in surprise as he looked straight ahead wondering how the hell she knew where he was staring through his helmet. _"This is going to be a LONG day."_

Finally approaching the runway Grant realized he needed to rethink his landing, "_Shit this things shorter than I thought AND they parked on the runway not the side of it. What are they thinking?" _The F-302 was an amazing craft; capable of short take-off and landing (STOL) operations there were few locations the ship couldn't operate from. While the runway was adequate, the men parked on it shortened the length considerable.

"_**Alright -2 new plan; we need the chutes."**_

"_**Roger lead arming chute now."**_

_501__st__ JFW_

Minna finally got a look at the angular fighters as they came into view; downward turned wings, three engines, and unknown weapons. The fighter approached with their gear down and their noses high. "_They're a lot bigger than I thought…"_ "Everybody off the runway now! These things are going to need as much room as possible."

As the men frantically moved, Reaper-1 made a perfect 3-point touchdown on the very tip of the runway. The moment the wheels touched the ground she heard a loud whine as the inlets on the engines changed shape, the brakes squealing in protest. Just as she thought she gave the order too late, a parachute emerged from the rear of the craft helping to slow it considerably. The craft slowed, veering to the edge of the runway as its wingman performed the same feat. "_Impressive, these men are well trained." "_Alright let's go meet our friends."

_Reaper-1 – Captain Carl "Edge" Grant_

"_Well then… shit maybe I should just stay in the cockpit? Nah I'll never hear the end of it if I don't get out," _thought Grant nervously as he powered his fighter down. Glancing out the canopy he watched as Reaper-2 parked in formation next to him while their new friends approached from the other side, "_**Jumper 1 you in position?"**_

"_**Roger Reaper your clear to exit," **_an amused voice responded, "_**Go ahead, introduce yourself… and then you get to introduce us isn't that exciting?"**_

Moaning at the obvious laughter going on behind the transmission, Grant popped the canopy and began lowering his 6'4" frame to the ground. A look at Reaper-2 showed his wingman displaying the biggest shit-eating grin he had ever seen and two thumbs up. Shaking his head while turning around Grant came face to face with a soldier tilting his head in confusion. Lowering his gaze he finally locked eyes with one of the girls as she held her hand out to him. "Pleased to meet you Edge, I'm Wing Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke. Welcome to the 501st."

_Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke- Pescara, Venezia_

The pilot of the fighter looked at her hand momentarily before he returned the handshake. _"He seems nervous," _she thought as she dropped her hand. "Why don't you take off your helmet Mr. Edge? I don't bite," she glanced to Mio who was holding her sword handle, "She might though," indicating the major.

The pilots' hands went to his face as he felt his helmet still on his head. "Sorry ma'am forgot I had it on," he stated in a muffled voice as he undid and pulled it off. As he did so, Minna was greeted by the face of a young man with short-cropped black hair and a pair of brilliantly blue eyes. He tucked the helmet under his arm as he saluted her, "Good afternoon ma'am, Captain Carl Grant, Stargate Command, reporting." She returned the salute and cut it allowing the pilot to relax and put his helmet back in the craft. "Why don't you grab your wingman and we can head back inside, we'd like to begin asking questions and I'm assuming you have a few yourself."

The captain looked like he was struggling with something before he finally addressed her, "Uh ma'am, uh my CO, would like to meet with you too if that wouldn't be a problem."

Minna tilted her head in confusion, "But of course, when can he be here? Where will he be coming from?"

He twitched nervously as he answered, "Uhhhhh right now and uhhhhh, right there," he pointed to the other side of the runway as Jumper 1 decloaked.

_Jumper 1_

"_This is too rich, I'm so glad I'm recording this," _thought Vought as he decloaked the Jumper watching as all of the soldiers immediately turned to face him guns at the ready. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea guys," he stated turning to the side as Ross shook his head and Sokolov shrugged.

"They haven't shot yet Vought and if you notice the young commander doesn't at all seem surprised to see us." The Russian colonel responded as he observed the situation.

Turning back to the runway Vought realized that what he said was true; the commander had an amused smirk on her face as she tilted her head to look at him. "_Why do I get the feeling we were expected?" _he thought as he landed the Jumper opposite the 302s. "Colonel, please tell your men to NOT shoot the first one who looks at them funny; pick two, the rest are staying with the ships."

_Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke- Pescara, Venezia_

As the Jumper floated over and landed the soldiers held their fire; awaiting the command from the witch. Minna watched in fascination as the large craft floated around with nothing other than a hum coming from it. While the ships appearance hadn't been anything less than spectacular, she and the other witches had been expecting it. _"The wonders an angry Mio can do for motivation,_" she thought as she remembered Eila's… questioning about her vision.

She turned to look at the Grant as the captain squirmed under the gaze of Sakamoto, "So captain it appears you guys aren't from around here are you?"

His nervous gaze shifted from the major to her, "Well kinda sorta; it's really hard to explain," He began as figures began to disembark the Jumper and head towards them, "I'd rather let the Colonel explain things himself."

"_Colonel, huh? Looks like I won't be getting back to that paperwork anytime soon then… darn," _she thought while smiling. She sized up the approaching group as she noticed four of the men, dressed in black, staying behind carrying weapons she did not recognize. In all there were five men approaching and while the men she had with her outnumbered them, her gut told her they were outmatched. "Sorry for the intrusion ma'am but we decided we needed to meet." Colonel Vought stated as his group came to a halt in front of her.

"Let's go inside shall we? I have a feeling we have a lot to discuss."

_**June 22, 1945 1700 Hours – Briefing Room, 501**__**st**__** JFW base- Pescara, Venezia**_

"So let me try to see if I understand this, you guys are from another Earth; in which no magic exist, and you explore the stars fighting aliens through a large ring called a Stargate or your ships. You were on a mission to try out a new piece technology, something that allows you to go to these, other Earths, and you were attacked and forced here. While this device still works you can't get back because you have no idea where that is. Does that sound about right?" asked Commander Minna as she finished her speaking.

Since Vought and the others had introduced themselves to the 501st, they had been briefing for the past four hours, trying to explain the complexity of inter-dimensional travel; without the benefit of Dr. Lansby who was still locked up by Dr. Pierce. While the crew explained what they could, the witches explained their history, most which they already knew, and the reasons why they didn't wear pants while flying; all the while introducing themselves to the men.

"That about sums it up commande-" Vought began as he drank the coffee he had been given by Sgt. Miyafuji. "Please Colonel, call me Minna, you do outrank me."

"Ma'am I don't know if that's appropriate; we just met these men." Flying Officer Clostermann whispered in Minna's ear as she stared at the two colonels. Vought raised an eyebrow as he looked at Sokolov, these ladies were indeed interesting. "It's fine Perrine, we can trust them," she said aloud, "these men are lost and alone and yet they still want to try and help us." While smiling at the three officers, "My one question is colonel, why want to risk your lives for us? Based on what we've seen and what you've told us, you could just hide out until your repairs are complete and attempt to go home."

Cdr. Ross caught Vought's eye and nodded, they needed to know. Vought cleared his throat before speaking, "Well com-Minna," he watched her smirk as he corrected himself, "Our original plan was just that; repair the ship and hide in orbit until we could confirm the ARD was ready. When we discovered we didn't know how to get home, that plan went out the window. After speaking with my fellow officers and crew, we decided that before we risked jumping to a potential more hostile location, we needed to help; that's what we do. When I asked the crew, the answer was unanimous; especially a certain few fighter pilots," he grinned while looking out the window towards the runway.

She smiled at his answer, "Thank you colonel for your truthfulness, it means a lot. Well then Colonel, do you think the others would like to join us before we continue?"

He looked at Sokolov, "I don't think so, Grant doesn't like meetings like this, he prefers being outside. What about your men Vitaly?"

Sokolov shook his head, "No I don't think they would either Chris; they don't talk much."

Minna shook her head, "No I meant the ones in the other ship."

"Uh what other ship?"

"The one that's been parked just off the runway for the last few days," she responded with a smile.

A pause filled the room as CO struggled to think of a response.

"Oh that ship."

_501__st__ JFW, Runway_

"Please"

"No"

"Please"

"No"

"PLEASE"

Sigh, "Fine, but don't touch ANYTHING; she is armed and fueled," relented Grant as Yeager finally broke him down. He watched as she nimbly hopped up the steps and jumped in the cockpit to his fighter. "I don't even know your name yet," he mumbled.

"Captain Charlotte Yeager, Liberion Army Air Corp, but you can call me Shirley." She stated happily as she put on Grant's helmet and began adjusting the seat.

"Hey don't touch the seat, it took me hours to get it in the right position, stupid cramped cockpit, wait did you say Yeager?"

"Yes I did, don't wear it out," she responded as she played with the control stick.

"_Interesting what are the odds tha-_ Hey, hey, hey don't touch that!" he yelled as she began to flip switches.

"I will if you start talking about it, remember you promised."

While the meeting was going on inside, Grant and his wingman were given a quick tour of the base before Yeager began to ask about his plane again. Captain Barkhorn was originally against the idea but after Hartmann showed up, she relented. It was at this point that Reaper-2 revealed herself to be a woman. Removing her helmet 2nd Lieutenant Hannah "Zippo" Burns found herself under a constant barrage of questions from Hartmann and Barkhorn so Grant headed back to his bird to find Yeager already there staring at it.

"Alright what you're currently sitting in is a second generation F-302 fighter-interceptor. Since its introduction, the 302 has been one of the SGCs most successful creations capable of standing toe-to-toe with two to three enemy craft at a time. She is capable of inner and outer-atmospheric combat and is armed with four modified AIM-120A AMRAAMs and either twin-linked railguns or twin plasma beams." He stated as he remembered his birds' specs, "Using her modified engines she is capable of reaching just past Mach 6 in atmosphere and capable of short FTL jumps in space..." He stopped confused as she took off the helmet and stared at him with large eyes, "What?"

He was startled as she leaned down, inches separated their faces as she began to quietly speak, "Mach 6 huh," tears began to form in her eyes before they all vanished as she grabbed his shoulders.

"Uh Sh-Shirley?"

"We, are, going, to go, Mach 6, now." She stated slowly but firmly, "You will do it now before I start flipping all the switches trying to figure out how to start it."

Before he could answer somebody else spoke up first, "I'd listen to her captain if you don't want your bird in a twisted heap on the bottom of the ocean." Grant spun around to find all the officers standing behind him, "Good…" he looked at his watch, "evening gentlemen, ladies; what do you mean ma'am?" he asked commander.

Minna smiled, "Capt. Yeager here broke Mach 1 last year and has tried to go faster almost every day since then. If you value you aircraft you'll take her up." She looked at Vought, "besides your CO invited us back to look at your ship." She stopped, "Barkhorn, you're in charge till we get back. I'm taking Mio, Yeager, and Juutilainen with me."

"Go ahead captain; you're clear for hypersonic flight. -2 is staying behind while Hydra launches to replace Hunter." Vought smiled, "See you back at the ship," he looked at Yeager, "Captain, you break it you buy it."

"YEAH, alright Carl how do I start this thing up?"

Grant shook his head in defeat; he just couldn't win, "Get in the back Yeager, there's a spare helmet back there."

_501__st__ JFW, Runway_

"_**You alright back there Shirley?"**_ Grant radioed to his GIB (Guy in Back). "_**Uh I think so. Why do I have to wear this thing again?"**_

Grant looked back over his shoulder as Shirley fiddled with her helmet. "_**You'll see,**_" he smirked as he flipped a switch causing both helmets to flicker to life. The 302s had all been upgraded with the Helmet-Mounted Display System developed for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which displayed all the important avionics data on the helmets' screen.

"_**Oh wow cool, how is it doing all this?" **_

Grant explained how the helmet worked as he slowly maneuvered the fighter to the opposite end of the runway. As he reached the end, he spun the fighter around and activated the brakes. "_**Alright Shirley hang on to your… you know, forget it just grab the bar in front of you."**_

Reaper-1 sat on the edge of the runway; the assembled group looked on in interest as even personnel from the base came out to watch the fighter take off. Finally the engines began to increase in pitch as blue cones of fire formed from the exhaust of two of the ships three engines. The fighter shook as its thrust built up. When the pitch reached near painful levels, Grant called over the radio, "_**Reaper-1, launching,"**_

The 302 leapt forward, its nose gear almost immediately lifting off the ground as the fighter reached rotation speed and left the ground. The fighter began to climb as the third large engine in the center lit up with a large bang as a massive tongue of fire leapt from its exhaust; accelerating the already fast fighter to near impossible levels. The 302 stood on its tail and began to accelerate in a vertical trajectory as Yeager screamed out over the radio, "_**YAHOO!"**_ Her scream of joy continued until the fighter was lost from view; a pillar of smoke marked its ascent. Minna looked to Vought as he continued to smile, "We need to tell her she isn't getting one; you need to be forceful."

Vought beckoned the witches forward, "After you ladies." The girls smiled and nodded as they filed into Jumper-1; two of the soldiers staying behind with Reaper-2. "I uh, let Jumper-3 know they were cleared to approach; sorry Minna we just wanted some intel and to keep an eye on you ladies."

"It's fine colonel I would have done the same thing"

As he entered the pilots' seat he turned to face her, "Out of curiosity how did you know the Jumper was there; In fact how did you know we would be here? We have yet to meet a race capable of seeing through our cloak."

Minna grinned as she activated her magic; her wolf familiar making itself known. "This isn't just for show colonel, as I said each witch has unique abilities; mine is spatial awareness, it allows me keep track of numerous objects in the space around me. While this isn't what gave you away it is similar. Sanya runs our night patrols at the base and her ability is a magic antenna; she can track signals and objects without needing a visual, kind of like radar. On her way back the other day she detected your team transmitting."

"_To be defeated by something that simple…" _"Ah I see," Vought responded as the Jumper lifted off. He looked at girls as they began peaking over his shoulder with surprised expressions on their faces. "What?"

"Um who's flying this thing?" Mio asked.

Vought grinned as he leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, "I am." He punctuated the statement by swaying the Jumper back and forth, "See?"

The girls, sans Eila, were amazed, "How?"

"You see," he began, "Most technology built by the Ancients requires a particular gene. If you have said gene the technology activates for you. Things like the Jumpers and the ship also require somebody to operate the item by thought. When we got in here I touched the console and connected to it before beginning to speak. For a simple flight like this I don't need to pay attention to the controls."

"So now that I answered your question you could answer mine," he said leaning forward, interest evident on his face."

Minna nodded and grabbed Eila forcing her forward. "This is Flying Officer Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen, say hi Eila."

Eila rubbed her shoulder before holding her hand out, "Hello Colonel Christopher Allen Vought, My name is Eila; I can see into the future."

_Jumper 1, rear bay_

Ross tuned out Vought's conversation as he watched Sokolov converse with his men. "_Wonder how Grant is doing?_

**Another chapter down, booyah! A few things, if anyone wants an OC to join the crew let me know via pm. I already have some things planned so don't worry; you have a while before I finish this arc and begin setting up the others so take your time. Check my newly created profile page for more info about the story. See ya later internet. Ghostrider21 **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Show and Tell**

**Hey guys, Ghostrider21 signing back on a little early this time. Finished this chapter a little earlier and since I'm going camping tomorrow; I won't be able to post till Sunday so I put this up earlier. Please let me know if it's too long. I own nothing but my OCs and the story, everything else belongs to their respective owners. **

_**Previously **_

_501__st__ JFW, Runway_

_Eila rubbed her shoulder before holding her hand out, "Hello Colonel Christopher Allen Vought, My name is Eila; I can see into the future."_

_Jumper 1, rear bay_

_Ross tuned out Vought's conversation as he watched Sokolov converse with his men. "Wonder how Grant is doing?_

_**May 10, 2018 2300 Hours – Atlantis Conference Room**_

"And that gentlemen, was the end of our first week." Vought took a drink as he finished speaking.

Sheppard raised his hand, "So about the no pants thing."

"No colonel, he already explained it; we are not going over it again," O'Neill deadpanned, looking at Sheppard. "Besides most of them were under-aged." He looked at Chris as Beckett checked him over; both of them looking tired.

The briefing had been going on almost continuously for the past seven hours. Besides a few breaks, the colonel pounded on ahead stopping only to answer questions. Serenity and Vought had a quick reunion as O'Neill convinced her to finally hand over his video log. Augmented with video and images, the colonel soldiered on; the only interruptions being Dr. Keller updating them on the conditions of the crew.

"Alright then colonel let's start up again bef-" O'Neill began before being interrupted by Beckett as he stormed over to him.

"Sir with all due respect, No, we will not be continuing tonight. Chris is dead tired and needs his sleep. Remember he is still weak." He stared Jack straight in the face, "I seem to recall Jack, last time you died you got the week after reviving off." Jack sighed in defeat; he knew when he had been beat.

"Fine we will resume tomorrow at 0800 hours, dismissed," he called as the shutters opened showing the multitude of people stacked up beyond them; they scattered as O'Neill and Landry left the room.

Beckett walked back around the table that ringed the room to begin wheeling Vought out as Sheppard stood up stretching. "and I thought Rodney was long winded, well g'night Chris, glad to have you back; see you in the morning." Sheppard yawned as he walked out.

"See you Sheppard and likewise," he replied while smiling.

"Alright colonel time for bed… again, you need it and you know it."

"Fine but first take me to the balcony; I want to see my night sky once again."

_Atlantis Central Spire_

"_I can't believe we made it… guys, I wish you could see it," _Vought sniffed as he stared up at the clear night sky; tears rolling down his face as he remembered his fallen comrades. "_I said we'd make it back and damn it, you all promised you wouldn't die. This isn't fair, it isn't fair…" _He wiped his tears away before spinning around to face Beckett, who had been pretending to study the city. "Beautiful night huh?"

Beckett nodded, "Aye it is Chris, come on let's get you bed, you need your rest."

Vought nodded and allowed the doctor to roll him back inside.

_**May 11, 2018 0630 Hours – Atlantis Infirmary**_

Shake

"mumble,"

Shake, shake

"mumble, mumble,"

Shake, shake, shake

Growl, "Matt if you don't want me to dislocate your arm again I suggest stopping."

"Aye, aye sir,"

"Thank you,"

'Massive blink,' Vought opened his eyes and stared at CDR Ross as he grinned from his bedside. "Ma-Matt?"

"Yes sir; it's good to see you again,"

Vought grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug, "Damn it Matt we did it."

"No sir **we** didn't; you did," Matt pushed him away holding him at shoulder length, "Sir we wouldn't have been able to hold together as long as we had without you. We made it home because you believed we would even when everyone else began to lose hope. We all owe you a debt we can never repay."

Vought sat there with his head down, "But what abou-"

"No if or buts sir, they wouldn't have wanted you to kill yourself over them."

As he began to think about it, another voice sang in, "He's right Chris; you should listen to your friends more often."

Vought nodded before he froze; his eyes growing wide. Twisting to the side he stared as he began to tear up again, "Jean…" he whispered.

_1 Hour later – Atlantis Conference Room_

"_Stupid mornings, why the hell did I say 0800… I'm old… should have chosen later," _O'Neill grumbled as he walked towards the conference room, coffee in one hand and his folder in the other. Entering he made he made his way to his chair, everyone going silent around him.

"Alright then let's get started; Colonel you we-," he began before noticing something.

"One, two, three, four,… five, six, seven, eight?" he counted as his sleep addled brain processed the information. "McKay? Lorne? Ross? Zelenka? What are you doing in here?" he looked around, "and where's Landry?"

The assorted group looked on in amusement as Lorne saluted and left causing the general to shift his attention to McKay. "Rodney," he growled, "don't you have something better to do?"

McKay shifted his gaze between the door and the general before responding, "Jack, the whole reason they got lost was because I failed to think ahead. I NEED to sit in on this; to hear what went wrong."

He turned, "And you Zelenka?"

Radek pushed his glasses up his nose, "O'Neill sir, I want to sit in on this; the colonel, is currently a patient in my city. While I know Atlantis is part of the SGC it still has its own command structure and I am a civilian." He calmly stated, "Besides, the more people who sit in on it, the less he has to re-explain later."

The general sighed as he dropped his head to the table, "it's too early for this; fine you two can stay as long as that ship is at the Alpha Site. Where the hell is Landry?"

"Right here Jack; sorry I'm late, I ran into someone and started talking. I decided to let her tag along." General Landry replied as he entered the room, closing the shutters behind him and his guest.

"Her?" inquired the general as he pulled his head of the table. Looking at the guest O'Neill realized who it was; the woman Vought referred to as his wife.

"Uh Jean right?" she nodded. "It's good to see you awake." Ross coughed causing O'Neill to glare at him and then Vought. "You know I think your crew has been around you for a little too long colonel."

"Sorry sir I'll try harder to beat discipline into them next time. Jean what are you doing here? I thought you would be resting?"

She shook her head; her ponytail whipping back and forth. "Nope sorry big guy, I'm awake now and you're not getting rid of me that easily," she stated while smiling. "Besides, you could use some help explaining all of this."

Now he was curious, "Just how much are you able to explain ma'am?"

Her smile grew wider as she answered, "I believe general the word I'm looking for is "Spoilers"."

Jack's interested look shifted back to anger as he whipped his head back to Vought. "You didn't," he growled out.

Vought shrugged a nervous look on his face as he refused to make eye contact with the general. "Um she may have um… found it and um, watched some."

"How much is some?"

"…Uh all of it."

O'Neill let his head hit the table once again. "_Too damn early."_ Without lifting his head, he waved at the colonel, "continue."

"Yes Sir"

_**July 15, 1945 0900 Hours-**_ _**Borealis Bridge, Unmarked Island 250 miles off the coast of Rome**_

Just over one month; that was how long the _Borealis _had been in this reality. Since then, work crews had made amazing progress; plugging the hull breach, repairing the shields, and bringing the weapons and sensors back on line.

"Weapon status?"

"Uh… railguns responding to commands sir; same with the energy turrets."

"Drones?"

"Uh… no. But we did get another engine back online."

Well almost all the weapons.

Vought shook his head in disbelief; he just couldn't catch a break. "And why not?"

"Because of this," stated Dr. Lansby as he walked onto the bridge clutching something in his hand. Walking up to the colonel, Evan showed him the crystal.

"You know what this is sir?"

Vought looked it over, "It's a control crystal for the circuits' right?"

Lansby nodded, "This is one of two major crystals that failed during the attack; it's completely cooked and we have no spares."

"We have no spares? If it's so important why not have any extras?"

Lansby shook his head, "No idea sir, it seems SOMEONE decided that both of these circuits wouldn't fail at the same time and we could just use the core to produce more."

Vought sighed, "McKay?"

He nodded.

"Stupid idiot, I'm so going to kick his ass we get back. Anyway what does that mean? Can we not get the remaining systems back online?"

"No but I have a temporary solution; we need to find a large enough piece of quartz, about this big." Evan began indicating with the burnt crystal. "We get a piece that big and I can get Serenity back online long enough to have her create replacements."

"_Looks like something to add to our growing list of supplies… Minna is going to kill me."_

"We still on schedule then Evan? I told Minna we would be moving to the base for us to show off to her boss." Vought inquired, eager to move the 3-km ship away from this bare, sad excuse for an island.

The doctor nodded while grinning, "Engine 3 is back online so while we can't break orbit, we can still move in atmosphere."

"Comms, recall the work crews and launch the fighters; we are moving."

As the bridge sprang into action, Vought thought back to the conversation he had with the young witch Eila, in the Jumper one month ago.

_She rubbed her shoulder nervously before she held out her hand to him, "Hello Col. Christopher Allen Vought, my name's Eila and I can see into the future."_

_Vought nearly crashed the Jumper right then and there when she said that; it was completely crazy yet a look into their eyes showed that it was in fact true._

"…_The future huh, last time we dealt with someone like that, they were a time traveler… anyway is that the real reason how you knew we were coming?"_

_She nodded, "I had a vision, a vivid one that showed a large ship from the stars coming to our aid. This ship was capable of much and it could protect us; the vision showed peace finally achieved if we helped it."_

_He sat there taking it all in, "Is that why you agreed to an alliance with us so easily?"_

_Minna nodded, "We've learned to trust Eila and her visions and if she said we could trust you, then we would."_

_The front of the Jumper was silent as Vought thought about her response, "Well thanks… that actually means quite a bit."_

_Eila smiled before she grew nervous again, "there was more though to it; I saw an unidentified man, a badge that the letters "N" "I" and "D" or something, and he was standing over a body bleeding on the ground and the next part showed a mushroom shaped cloud in the distance. Does this mean anything to you?"_

_Vought frowned knowing immediately what she was talking about. He didn't answer as the Jumper made it back to the ship._

Vought shook his head as the bridge informed him they were ready to launch.

"_I hope Sokolov's man can find this Trust operative before anybody dies. I will not let Armageddon come to this reality." _

_**July 15, 1945 1200 Hours – 501**__**st**__** JFW**_

"So Commander I'm glad everything is fine here but why call me out here? You could have just told me in your next report?" Vice Air Marshall Adolfine Galland inquired. "What is so important that my presence is required here; I'm an extremely busy woman."

"It's a demonstration ma'am and it will be ready shorty, it is extremely important that you see it in person," stated Minna as she glanced at her watch. "_He better be here or I'm going to wring his neck; if Mio doesn't remove his head first."_ "Ah Maj. Sakamoto there you are; you remember Vice Marshall Galland right?"

Mio and Galland turned, sizing each other up before Mio saluted, "Maj. Mio Sakamoto ma'am it is good to see you again."

Adolfine looked at the major before breaking out in a grin and wrapping her in a hug. "Damn good to see you major; and yes it has been awhile?"

As Mio struggled in her grip she managed to respond, "Thanks ma'am that means a lot."

"So major how have you been? We can catch up while we wait for Wilcke's demonstration."

Continuing her pretty much one-sided conversation, she noticed Minna answering her radio. Watching, she witnessed Minna nod and whisper a response before turning to her and Mio. "It's time ma'am let's head upstairs to the balcony."

_501__st__ JFW Base, Balcony_

"So Commander, what's this big demonstration?"

Minna beckoned towards the speaker, "here it comes."

"_**Pescara control this is Reaper-1, requesting permission to buzz the tower."**_

"…_**Uh I guess so Reaper-1, permission granted."**_

Galland gave Minna a strange look, "Who's Reaper-1?"

She pointed as a low rumble was heard coming from the sea. Looking out she saw an unidentifiable craft making its way towards them at high speed at wave top level. Reaching for her neck she grabbed her scope and activated her magic bringing the target into view. "A fighter?"

The fighter increased speed as it pulled up away from the waves heading straight towards the castles' tower. Right before Galland threw up her shield to protect herself, the pilot pulled up; no more than a foot separating them, and began a ballistic climb above the base. Watching as the fighter rolled inverted, another one appeared and began to dance around the sky in ways she had never seen before. "What the hell was that Commander and was that all?"

"No ma'am, I believe that is the end of it," Minna stated while pointing up.

It was at this point in time that Galland noticed that the rumble from before had not subsided and as she looked up, she was finally stunned. Like a ripple of water in the sky, a massive grey form appeared out of nowhere, slowly drifting over the base and towards the ocean, the name _Borealis_ visible on its side.

As the ship began to lower itself into the sea alongside the base, Galland turned to her subordinate, "Commander what the hell have you been up to?"

Minna shrugged before looking at her superior, "Remember that carrier type from a few weeks ago?" Galland nodded, "Well we kinda had a little help with it," she stated as a large door opened on the ship's side; men and trucks exiting the hull.

"Minna you never cease to amaze me; I have yet to regret my decision to reform the 501st. Tell me everything."

Minna beckoned Adolfine forward, "I'll explain along the way; let's go meet our new allies shall we?"

_501__st__ JFW- Pescara, Venezia_

As soon as the ship's engines shut off, the crew immediately opened bays 1 and 2 and began unloading the equipment they promised they would use to defend the base with. As trucks drove off the ship, US Marine Captain Edward Thompson stared in disbelief at what was leaving.

"Sure I'll jump to another reality, no problem; work with Russian troops, again no problem. Watch them operate their latest and greatest SAM system right in front of me; I don't know what to say." Thompson mumbled to the private standing to his left as the Russian Air Defense System rolled past, truck by truck. Leaving the ship were the vehicles that composed the surface-to-air missile battery; the command truck, power truck, acquisition radar, targeting radar, and six TEL (transporter erector launcher). Once leaving the ship the vehicles broke off from each other and headed towards their predetermined positions.

"Never thought I'd see a Growler this close, unless of course I was attacking it." Glancing to his right, "Sorry sir no offense."

Major Volkov shook his head, "Hет captain, no offense taken. I would have thought the same had our situations been reversed." Watching the gathered men and witches he observed both colonels walking towards CDR Minna and Maj. Sakamoto with an unknown taller woman in tow. "I must go meet the officers, до свидания captain," and with that the major strode off.

Watching him leave, Ed shook his head, "Come on private, we need to get the LAVs out."

_Borealis disembarking point, 501__st__ JFW_

Glancing up at the four taller men, Galland took in as much information as she could before speaking. "Afternoon gentlemen I am Vice Air Marshall Adolfine Galland of the Karlsland Air Force. Who the hell is in charge here and what the hell is that equipment?" she demanded with her hand out; her eyes darting back and forth in awe of the vehicles driving around.

Vought and Sokolov shared an amused glance before answering, "Good afternoon ma'am, Colonel Christopher Vought, Stargate Command; I'm the one in charge of this ship." He threw a quick salute before grabbing her hand, "_my god her grip is bone breaking."_ As he continued his handshake, he introduced Sokolov. "This is Colonel Vitaly Sokolov of the Russian Federation; he is the commanding officer of the Russian troops assigned to my ship and is my counterpart. As for the equipment… I'll let Col. Sokolov explain."

Galland dropped her hand and turned to the big Russian as he began to address her, "Good afternoon ma'am it is a pleasure to meet you. As for the equipment, you are looking at the pinnacle of air defense systems; the S-400 Триумф Surface-to-Air Missile battery. Using its acquisition radar, the system can detect an object the size of a…" he noticed the interested look on Vought's face; he smiled before continuing, "Well a small size up to 600 km away." He watched the amazed looks appearing on the witches faces. "Sorry colonel I can't reveal all my countries' secrets."

Vought sighed; no Russian military secrets for him today.

"Anyway once detected the targeting radar picks the targets up as they hit the 400 km mark and can instruct the launchers to engage the target(s). Recently, upgrades allow it to hit something small and maneuverable such as a…" Sokolov cut himself off as he noticed the frantic head shaking from Vought and Ross. Fortunately for them, none of the witches noticed as they processed what they had just been told.

"400 km engagement range… that's beyond belief. Think of what we could do with that… the lives we could save," whispered Galland as she imagined that power at her fingertips. She steeled herself before returning to the two colonels, "Alright then you've made an impression on me, now I need an explanation."

"Right this way ladies."

_**July 15, 1945 1640 Hours - Borealis Briefing Room**_

Galland sat back in her chair; stunned from the information she had received. "Bah, wha, how?" She turned to Minna, "You knew all of this? You managed to keep all this from me… from the world for a MONTH! Think of all the good these people could do, they could help us eliminate the Neuroi once and for all."

"I'm sorry ma'am but it wasn't her fault; it was mine. I requested that she keep us secret for as long as possible so we could repair our ship," Vought began. "We suffered major damage to critical system and I would not put my men in needless danger. While we can fight, our primary weapon system is damaged; we need a temporary fix so we can create the part we need."

"What do you need? I can try my hardest to get it to you. Anything to get you to help us; name it and it's yours,"

Vought shook his head, "Sorry ma'am but it's not that simple; the part we need is a very pure piece of clear quartz about this size," he indicated with a destroyed crystal.

"Quartz? It can't be that hard to find? I'll get somebody on it; just give me the info on the size and chemistry. We will find what you need."

"Thanks ma'am but-"

Before continuing the ships alarm began to blare. Vought jumped up activating his radio, "Report."

"_**Sir unknown contacts detected moving south, altitude Angels 10, speed 400."**_

He left the room; the witches in tow as he made his way to the bridge. "Estimated targets?"

"_**Group 1 is heading towards Rome and Group 2 is heading towards us. ETA is approximately 32 minutes."**_

Vought glanced at the ladies, "Well then about that demonstration…"

"Do it, Minna be ready to alert your witches. Let's see what our new friends can do."

He nodded as he sat down in the control chair, "Understood; лучник what's your status?"

"_**готовый"**_

"Cleared to engage," Vought ordered as he activated the chair; the witches watching the scene with interest.

_501__st__ JFW_

"It's no fair, why can't I go inside. I just want to look at their stuff again, maybe convince someone to let me fly one of those 302s…" complained Shirley as her and the other witches watched the men set up their equipment.

"Yeager, stop complaining; it's unbecoming of an officer to complain in front of their subordinates."

Shirley rolled her eyes, "Your no fun you old stick in the mud, lighten up. Besides it's only fair; we gave them a tour of our base they should give all of us, not some, a tour." She turned to Gertrud, "You really need to relax Trude."

"Afternoon ladies; how are we all today?"

The grouped witches turned to find Capt. Grant and Lt. Burns sitting down on a set of folding chairs; lounging back and smiling at their fellow crew setting up equipment. The two air force officers grinned at the sour expression the men were giving them, they loved being pilots.

"Hey Carl, Sarah; I'm doing well but Trude here is being a spoil sport."

Trude glared at Shirley while the others made their way over.

"Hey Miyafuji, Bishop, Hartmann, Litvyak, and uh Jul- no um, Jun…uh…"

Eila sighed, "Just call me Eila; it's a lot easier to remember."

"Will do ma'am so how are you d-."

"What about me?"

"Sorry Miss Clostermann didn't see you there. How are you today? It's actually nice to finally… wait, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight… we're missing one. Where's uh Lucchini?"

"I don't k-EEEE."

"Found her." Shirley stated while smiling; it had seemed that Francesca had managed to sneak up on the unsuspecting Lt. Burns, giving her a little, "check."

"What the HELL, get off me you little squirt, sir, help me" Sarah begged as she tried to pry the energetic Ensign off her chest.

"Um…hmm… hey what's that over there?" Inquired Grant with a red face as he refused to make eye contact with anyone; looking at the crews setting up the SAM. "Sorry Zippo but you got herself into this… somehow… you can get herself out, I hope."

"Don't worry about her Carl, she does that to any women that comes near here. She like to compare them and she has yet to find anything too match these." Shirley indicated grabbing her breast.

Grant went redder as he jerked his head away from Yeager; eyes closed. "_What is wrong with the kids?"_

Opening his eyes Grant watched as Yoshika and Lynette attempted to pry Burns' attacker off her with Hartmann cheering them on and Perrine screaming at them to act civilized. "_They are strange,"_ he thought while looking at them with a smile, "_but they are good kids."_

Lucchini finally relented, releasing her captive as her and the two pulling her, flew back and landed in a pile. As Yoshika and Lynette groaned on the ground, Lucchini grabbed onto Lyn with toothy grin as she checked her out yet again.

Carl groaned as he went red yet again with Shirley laughing at him, he just couldn't win. "Come on guys I'm ri-"

Grant and Burns jumped up as the _Borealis_ began sounding the alarm; its warble echoing across the base. Men and trucks began heading towards their positions or the safe bulk of the ship. Reaching for his radio Carl swore as he realized he left it in his 302. "_Shit I need to know what's up NOW._" Noticing an approaching Russian sergeant, Grant waved him over. "What's the situation sergeant?"

The man began to babble at him at in Russian as he explained the situation. "_Damn it why Russian, why not Spanish that I can understand,"_ Grant thought to himself.

"He is saying that the ship has detected inbound targets," a quiet voice spoke from behind. Turning around Grant found Flying Officer Sanya Litvyak, the witch who escorted him one month ago, standing behind him. "You understand him Sanya?"

She nodded, "I'm Orussian, our languages are the same. He is saying that Air Marshall Galland authorized Col. Vought to attempt to destroy the Neuroi as a demonstration." She continued to listen, "He says that Archer will attempt to destroy the Neuroi first; if it fails, the colonel will launch fighters to intercept. If they fail, we will launch to destroy them." She stopped, "Who is Archer?" she asked as the soldier ran off.

"That is," indicated Grant as the SAM burst into action.

_**July 15, 1945 1645 Hours – 501**__**st**__** JFW, Pescara, Venezia**_

The moment the alarm sounded the men of the anti-aircraft group ran to their positions as the controller started the system. The S-400 Triumf, NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler was the worlds' deadliest and most advanced anti-aircraft system. The moment the _Borealis _initialized the attack, the high powered acquisition radar locked onto the targets and began transmitting data to the launch computer. Calculating the distance to the targets at 313 km, the attack radar swiveled into position and alerted the control cab what it wanted to do. Reviewing the computers recommendation, the controller agreed and launched.

Outside the truck, the two largest TELs warbled their launch warning as they began their system checks. Finding nothing wrong they started the attack. With a muffled pop and a burst of white smoke, the 420kg missiles popped out of their tubes one at a time. Once clear of their tubes the missiles lit their solid rocket motors, tilted over and raced into the distance; quickly reaching their top speed of Mach 12. 10 seconds from impact the missiles activated their active radars and choose their targets completely obliterating the unfortunate Neuroi that had attempted to attack. Total time from detecting the bandits? 82 seconds.

As the smoke from the launch cleared, the TELs lowered their eight tubes, four per, so they could be reloaded. The personnel of the 501st were stunned with what had transpired; receiving a transmission from CDR Minna, they learned that all of the Neuroi had been completely destroyed. "Wha-What was that…" whispered Barkhorn.

"The horrors of modern war," muttered Grant as the sight of all the smoke reminded him of another battlefield.

_Borealis Bridge_

Vought deactivated the chair after confirming the bandits were no more. Standing up he observed the three witches standing in front of the window, silently staring at the launchers. "Well did that dazzle you?"

Galland slowly turned; a glazed expression on her face, "Colonel, is this how combat is in your world? Death and destruction from beyond sight range?"

"Ma'am…"

"Sir, Capt. Grant is launching."

"What? I didn't authorize anything. Recall him now."

"He isn't responding sir."

Vought marched over to the window, "_What the hell up with Grant… Shit I know what's wrong." _Noticing the smoke over the field, he realized what the issue was. Spinning around he began to march off the bridge.

"Sir?"

He ignored Ross as he continued his march towards the 302 bay, "Commander, can I borrow Capt. Yeager? She is the only one who seems to have a connection with Grant."

"Sure but why?"

Vought sighed as he stopped and turned around, "Grant is remembering Afghanistan; it wasn't a good time for him."

"What happened?" Adolfine asked.

"His plane got shot down on a mission and his back seater was killed. It wasn't his fault, it was an unfortunate accident." He sighed running his hand down the back of his head, "He never really forgot it; the SGC just helped cover the pain." Vought looked right at her, "Yeager is going to help me bring him back in one piece, even if it means kicking his ass."

_15 Minutes Later_

A 302 fired out of the _Borealis _and immediately went supersonic as it chased down the rouge fighter. "_**Alright Yeager here's the plan; I'll I need you to do is start talking to him the moment we get in range. If we can slow him down enough we can try to convince him to return. We need to correct this now or it will kill him. Do you understand?"**_

"_**I think so sir but why me? You're his CO shouldn't you be able to do this?"**_

"_**Shirley listen; Carl left his kid sister back home and the two of them were close. From what I've seen of her, the two of you look quite similar. If anyone can knock some sense into him it's you."**_

Shirley nodded to herself; her new friend needed her.

"_**Borealis this is Crosshair, where is he?"**_

"_**Uh Crosshair, Reaper-1 is 120 miles downrange at Angels 90, his current speed is Mach 6."**_

"_**Understood Borealis, plot me a position in front of him."**_

"_**Roger Crosshair coordinates sent, good luck."**_

With the coordinates locked, Vought activated the 302s hyperdrive, opening a hyperspace window, and entering it.

_Reaper-1, Capt. Carl "Edge" Grant, 90,000ft over the Mediterranean_

Images flashed through his mind as he flew as fast as he could; tears falling down his face as he remembered the day he got shot down.

_His F-15 streaked through the valley; Anti-aircraft fire on the horizon. A marine company under fire requesting air support. Cresting the ridge he saw the target designated and dropped his bombs. Pulling out, six lights appeared in the sky; his threat receiver warning him of a missile launches. His back seater dropped flares as he threw the plane into a bank. A bright flash of light and a roaring explosion followed by nothing as the critical hit killed the plane. He called over the radio to eject and pulled the t-handles throwing him out of the stricken plane. Witnessing no one else exiting the plane he watched as it pancaked into the ground, bursting into flames. He watched the plane burn as he slowly drifted down; screaming himself hoarse. Drifting down he landed in a tree knocking him out cold. _

Grant sniffed as he remembered waking up in the field hospital the next day, the day his back seater and friend 2nd Lt. Sam "Bones" Richardson was declared KIA. Weeks later he learned that the black box had been recovered; Bones had pulled the handles, but the seat refused to fire. The box also registered that his seated hadn't fired; he should have also died that day. As he reminisced about his lost friend, his fighter shook; shields flashing and warning lights lit.

"_**Damn it captain, get your ass back here."**_

Grant looked up as he witnessed a 302 dropping from above him; plasma beams firing. He juked and rolled as he tried to maneuver around his attacker, trying to place the voice on the radio. "_**Who is this? Identify yourself."**_

"_**Carl I swear I will shoot you down if you don't cooperate,"**_ growled the attacking 302.

"_Oh shit I'm so dead,"_ thought Grant as he desperately tried to escape his now identified attacker.

Vought pressed his attack as Chris realized how much trouble he was in. Before joining the SGC, Vought had started in the air force as a Combat Controller (CCT); jumping behind enemy lines to designate targets for the first wave of allied bombers. He had joined his initial squad as a spotter; however due to his abnormally high marksmanship skills he was sent to the Marine Scout Sniper school to hone them. Graduating from the school Vought was reassigned back to CCT. His first mission out of the school resulted in the death of his commanding officer and executive officer when their Humvee was destroyed in an IED attack leaving him the only officer remaining. Completing the mission he returned to be promoted to the rank of Captain and given his own team. Rising quickly through the ranks, Vought became one of the youngest officers to make it to the rank of Lt. Col. since WWII at the age of 26. One year later he found himself in front of General Landry telling him about a little object called the Stargate and the promotion that awaited him.

Grant recalled all this from the reports him and some of the other pilots had snuck out as he went inverted and performed a split-s to escape his pursuer; another hit told him his attempt failed.

Thinking back to the report, Grant remembered the important part. Before being assigned an SG team, the colonel had requested permission to learn to pilot the F-302 which had fascinated him. General Landry agreed and he was sent to training. The result had stunned all the SGC personnel; Vought had exceeded all of the 302 pilots and began throwing the high performance fighter to its absolute limits; breaking every record that had been set by it. He was such an effective pilot that Landry was forced to ground him. Given the call sign Crosshair by the CCT, the SGC gave him another nickname; and he was currently living up to it. Having no other option Grant began activating his hyperdrive.

"_**Carl please listen to me."**_

He stopped and began to slow as the other 302 came alongside him, "_**Shirley?"**_

The back seater in the other fighter nodded, "_**It's me Carl listen; Chris here told me about… your past. I'm sorry but we couldn't let you do anything stupid."**_

He snorted and shook his head.

"_**Well too stupid, listen Chris here is going to shoot you down if we don't return now."**_

Minutes passed as they waited for a response.

"_**I'm sorry sir… I was acting unbecoming an officer of the US Air Force. I will follow you back now sir and I will accept any punishment you see fit."**_

Vought smiled as the two 302s banked around and began a descent, "_**Home Plate, this is Crosshair, Reaper-1 and Crosshair are RTB at this time."**_ "_He is so going to get it when we get back."_

Shirley look out the canopy at her friend wondering what could have caused that emotional of a response to smoke. Sure she had seen men suffer from stress before, but nothing to this extent.

"_**Colonel… What makes a man act that way? He said something about the horrors of modern war before he ran off. What did he mean by that?"**_

Vought stayed silent trying to think of a way to get around answering her but he saw none. "_**Shirley, we will explain everything when we get back. The explanation is long and not very pretty but we can't hide it from you guys any longer."**_

Shirley frowned as she processed his response glancing over at Grant. What happened in these peoples' past?

_20 Minutes Later, Borealis_

Grant sat in his cockpit nervously as he noticed the armed men waiting to escort him back to the ship. As Vought and Shirley walked up Carl opened his canopy, carefully and slowly lowering himself to the ground as the other men and witches watched. Standing at attention he saluted.

"Capt. Carl Grant, reporting and awaiting punishment sir."

The gathered men and women watched as Vought just stood there; not making a sound as he observed the pilot. "Do you know what you did captain?"

Grant nodded.

"You do know desertion is punishable by courtmartial and jail time correct?"

"I understand sir."

Vought nodded, "Good I'm glad you understand," he stated as he drew his sidearm and shot Grant in the chest. Energy discharging across his body as he dropped to the ground with surprised look on his face.

"CARL!" Shirley yelled as she rushed towards her fallen friend as the witches' men aimed at the colonel.

"What is the meaning of this colonel; you just killed your own man," Galland stated as she drew her own sidearm.

"Did I?" responded Vought with an unamused glance. His particle magnum glowing red indicating the last shot fired.

Processing the colonel's words, Shirley turned and felt Carl's pulse to discover that… "He's asleep?"

The witches and their men lowered their weapons confused at this turn of events. Minna turned to Chris, "I assume there is a justifiable meaning to this sir?"

Vought nodded, "I was never really going to punish him; he needed to that out of system." He stated while glancing over at the sleeping captain. "I'm going to confine him to his quarters for a day; the stunning was from making me chase him and it won't cause any lasting harm." He holstered his weapon, "Galland ma'am, commander, could you gather the witches and meet us in the briefing room?"

Adolfine tilted her head, "sure but why?"

He glanced at Shirley who realized what was going on, "We are going to reveal some of our history." He looked at his men, "From this time period till when we left and I'm sorry to say that it isn't going to be pretty."

"Why is that colonel?"

He looked staright at her, "Because it is vilolent and despiciable. Our history is paved with blood."

_**July 15, 1945 2000 Hours - Borealis Briefing Room**_

Vought collapsed into his chair as he looked upon those gathered to hear and explain their world's history. Gazing at the impassive faces of his officers and the nervous expressions of the girls, he began one of the longest and possibly painful conversations he had ever had to.

"First things first; does anyone have any questions?"

"Actually I have one," Minna asked with her hand up.

Vought nodded.

"How was it Capt. Grant wasn't killed when he was shot?" All the witches nodded at this; they were interested as well.

Vought drew his sidearm and popped the power cell; sliding it across the table to Minna. She picked it up as Barkhorn and Galland crowed around her observing the silver pistol. "What you're holding there is a Traveler Particle Magnum."

Yoshika tilted her head, "Traveler?"

He smiled, "Yep Traveler, a race of humans we met in the Pegasus Galaxy."

All the witches looked at the weapon in Minna's hand in awe, "So this weapon is technically… alien?"

"Yep"

"… Interesting; so is it a stunning weapon, designed for non-lethal attacks?"

"Not exactly," Vought replied as he got the weapon back, sliding its cell back in. "Right now the chamber is glowing red, see? When red this thing will knock the target out although thick enough armor will dissipate it." He flicked a switch on its side changing it to white, "When white however this thing will cause damage, normally lethal with one shot. When clear however… it will burn a 25cm hole through just about anything with a single shot." Spinning the magnum he dropped it back into his holster as he dropped back down into his chair.

"Anything else? Last chance till the end."

Silence met his ears as he looked at all them.

"Fair enough, here we go."

"In the year 1914 global relationships reached the breaking point as countries broke off ties with one another and started creating alliances, the Allies, and the Central Powers. The Allies consisted of the United Kingdom; what you call Britannia, France; what you call Gallia, and the Russian Empire; which you call Orussia. The Central Powers consisted of Germany; Karlsland, and Austria-Hungary; Ostmark."

He watched the girls looking at each other, "On July 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a man wanting independence. Austria then delivered an ultimatum to the country of Serbia; I have no idea what you would call it, and this set off a war which would never be forgotten. The Great War, the First World War, World War I, take your pick… this war cost the lives of more than 10 million combatants."

The girls gasped when they heard this, it wasn't possible was it? Yoshika shook when she heard this; Lynette grabbing on to her as they both tried to comprehend that much devastation.

Vought shook his head before continuing, "In 1917, the US; Liberion, finally entered the war and helped push the Central Powers back. The war continued for just over 4 years finally ending on November 11, 1918. This conflict…"

The colonel went on and on explaining the war and the horrors it held, from the development of the machinegun and the tank, to the combat use of aircraft and chemical weapons. He explained the terrifying concept of trench warfare to the ladies and the conditions of the battlefields.

Gertrude slammed her hands on the table, "Karlsland would never do that to anybody, we are proud and honorable."

"Relax captain, while this is concerning your right; we would never do anything like that… ever." Galland calmly stated, with concern showing on her face.

"I'm sorry captain but it is true, my country alone lost nearly 3.5 million and an additional 4 million wounded," Col. Sokolov stated sadly.

Sanya was silent at this; she wasn't expecting that.

"Is that… is that everything," asked Perrine?

"No… not even close."

_2 Hours Later_

Vought beckoned to Dr. Pierce to continue, "Hello everyone; I'm Captain Frank Pierce, the ships medical officer, you can call me Doc. After WWI there was a time of prosperity throughout the world; exceptions being Russia, and the Central Powers." He sighed, "On October 29, 1929, 11 years after the end of the war, the global stock market crashed."

Galland rocked in her chair, "Are you serious?"

He nodded as he went on to explain the Great Depression and its outcomes. The others chimed in as they saw fit pointing out the growing stress the world was once again slowly building up and a man named Hitler's rise to power. Perrine looked at the ground; unable to believe what she was hearing. In the back Eila just sat there listening and trying to comfort Sanya; who was still shaken by Sokolov's explaination of what happened to her country. All the witches tried to ignore the images being shown to them on the walls.

Minna processed all the information and the images as she pieced together what they had been leading up to, "All of this led to something big again didn't it?"

Pierce passed the conversation onto CDR Ross, who cleared his throat before speaking, "This buildup in tension finally shattered when on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland."

The four Karlslandic witches stiffened as the other witches gave them surprised looks.

"Th-that isn't possible."

"No…"

"Why?"

"I'm sorry but it's the truth. If you wish for us to stop w-"

"No… you need to finish this. We've heard the beginning; now we need to hear the end," Adolfine responded slowly, her fist clenched.

Ross nodded, "Alright then, after taking Poland, Germany continued to expand months later, as it began its invasion of France." Perrine stiffened and looked up in horror as Lynette and Yoshika tried to console her. "In France, the French and British defenders were unprepared for an assault through the Ardennes Forest and Paris fell on June 14, 1940. On the 10th of June, Italy also declared war on France and Britain as they too invaded France." Francesca started crying at this as Shirley wrapped her in a hug; she continued to listen, a growing dread forming in the pit of her stomach, "What of Lib- the US?"

"At this point in time, the US was still trying to remain neutral. We didn't want to get involved; still remembering the outcome of WWI; we were however providing the Allies with weapons and supplies. Russia was the same way, going as far to declare a truce with Germany as long as they didn't try to invade."

Sanya looked at the Karlslanders before looking at the floor. It just didn't seem like her people to act that way. "On June 22, 1941 Germany initiated Operation Barbarossa and invaded the Soviet Union." She glanced up in alarm as Eila rushed to console her yet again.

Ross gave into Sokolov and Volkov as they continued to explain the Germany invasion of their country. Then it came full circle back to Vought. The girls looked at him wondering how things could get any worse.

He refused to make eye contact as he stood up mumbling and looking at the images on the walls; Minna caught bits of it, "… date which will live in infamy."

He turned to look at them as an aerial image of Hawaii appeared on the wall. Everybody gasped in horror; Hickam Field and Ford Island NAS were burning. Yeager was almost panicking at this. "On December 7, 1941 at 7:55 am, the Japanese launched a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, finally drawing America into the war." Mio slammed her fist into the table yelling about how dishonorable it was while Yoshika once again broke down in tears.

Shirley steeled herself as she continually listened to Vought's explaination of the attack. She almost cried, she knew people at Pearl.

The officers of the _Borealis _went on and on explaining the war, in gruesome detail, as they advanced. When they finally got around to explaining the German's treatment of the Jewish people and the Holocaust, Minna and Galland finally began to cry; it was almost too much. Vought and the others took a break before moving on, allowing the witches to calm down a bit.

_0002 Hours, July 16, 1945_

Vought looked around at the tired faces in the room; the witches looked terrible and it killed him to continue but they wanted it. The girls looked up as he cleared his throat, "Alright so Germany finally surrendered on May 7, 1945 while the war in the pacific continued." Yoshika looked at the ground while Mio continued to mumble about the dishonorable acts of the kamikaze attacks.

"The US knew that the Japanese would never surrender and that an all-out attack on Japan would result in millions of casualties on both sides. After taking Okinawa and Iwo Jima the US Army Air Corp B-29s began unrestricted firebombing of Japanese mainland cities. Planners were realizing that this wouldn't be enough and something else had to be done…"

The room darkened as a video began to play on the wall, "On July 16, 1945 at 5:29 am, the world entered the nuclear age." A massive explosion filled the screen blinding the camera; as the light cleared, the room was silent as a large mushroom cloud appeared on the screen. Eila just stared as she realized what she had witnessed.

Vought turned back to the girls looking downcast as he struggled to speak, "… On August 6, 1945… the US dropped the atomic bomb Little Boy on Hiroshima completely obliterating the city. The deaths, final after all injuries, reached 70-80 thousand." The girls stared in horror with Yoshika crying out loud. "Japan still refused to surrender so on August 9; Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki killing an additional 40-70 thousand. On September 2, 1945, Japan finally signed the surrender bringing an end to the war. The final total reached 50 to 80 million deaths."

A pin could be heard dropping in the room as the girls realized what these men had explained to them and they were shocked. Vought looked on in disgrace; he felt like shit. A glance at his men confirmed that they felt the same.

Galland cleared her face, her eyes red as she sniffed before speaking, "…I- we th-thank you for telling us this. While it wa-was indeed quite shocking, it gi-gives us some insight to your world. If you don't mind, we can continue anything else in the morning." With that she got up and left, the other witches following her in various states of shock.

Vought turned to the others, "Well that went well; come on I need a drink and I know all of you snuck a little something onboard. I know I did."

**Another chapter down and wow was this one a long one. Had to pull out my old history books for this one to make sure I got it right. I wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed; as this is my first story, it means a lot. The next chapter will have some history as well as some new faces. I had gotten some emails requesting longer chapters but I didn't know how I felt about it until I realized a little late just how long this was so here it is. I want some feedback on this chapter length; please let me know if you guys think this is too long. Anyway so long and see you next time, Ghostrider21 signing off.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Names, Names, Names**

**Greetings once again internet; how's it going? Not much this time guys; I have a bit more at the end. Thanks for the reviews. I don't own anything but my OCs and the story, everything else belongs to their respective owners. **

_**Previously**_

_Galland cleared her face, her eyes red as she sniffed before speaking, "…I- we th-thank you for telling us this. While it wa-was indeed quite shocking, it gi-gives us some insight to your world. If you don't mind, we can continue anything else in the morning." With that she got up and left, the other witches following her in various states of shock._

_Vought turned to the others, "Well that went well; come on I need a drink and I know all of you snuck a little something onboard. I know I did."_

_**July 16, 1945 0100 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW, Pescara, Venezia**_

Galland walked the dark corridors of the castle in a sort of daze; the amount of information she had received nearly caused her to collapse. Thinking about the atrocities her other world counterparts committed, she found herself unable to sleep and decided to try and walk it off. After a horrifying realization, the witches realized that if it wasn't for the Neuroi, they might be in a similar situation. Thinking back to the other girls she hoped they were better off than she was; they were in rough shape last she saw of them. None worse off than Sgt. Miyafuji and ENS Lucchini.

The base was silent as everyone slept; the men from the other reality taking over defensive operations for the night. Walking past a window she noticed a form sitting on the edge of the runway looking out over the water. Deciding she had nothing better to do, she went to investigate.

_Runway, 5 minutes later_

Galland slowly and silently approached the figure at the end of the runway, finally identifying him when she got close, "Col. Vought?"

Vought turned around a surprised look on his face as he greeted her, "Galland ma'am, good morning… I guess you couldn't sleep huh?"

She shook her head, "Not even a wink. How about you colonel? It's your history; you already know it."

"True but I don't like making women cry. Seeing the looks on your faces made me feel like I was torturing you. I wanted to come out here and clear my head… with a little help," he finally indicated as he pulled the bottle of whiskey from behind him.

"Ah I see," she stated as she sat down next to him.

Vought raised an eyebrow, "Uh ma'am?"

She motioned with her hand, "fork it over I want some too; I should confiscate it because you brought a non-approved substance onto the base."

He frowned and sighed as he handed her the bottle and his glass. Taking them both she filled the glass and sniffed it, "Good whiskey huh?"

"The best"

Silence separated the two as they just watched the water. Glancing at the colonel she watched him stare out over the sea with a tired expression on his face. Taking a sip she lost herself in the flavor.

Turning back to the colonel she grabbed his arm, "Come on colonel we need to do something." She ordered as she looped her arm and glass through his. "There is a Karlsandic tradition called _Bruderschaft trinken*_ in which acquaintances become friends. We drink from our glasses and say our names, first names in this situation." She smirked as she glanced at Vought's nervous expression, "What don't trust me colonel? It is a true and proud tradition; you should be honored."

He glanced at her amusement as he slowly went red in the face; he had heard of this tradition before and it had another part…

Not knowing what else to do he grabbed the bottle as he looked Galland right in the face, "Chris," he stated.

"Adolfine"

Closing his eyes, they both took a drink at the same time with Vought waiting for the end of the ritual. When nothing happened he began to calm down, "_Huh I guess it is different, I mean we are in another real-"_ His internal monologue was cut short as he felt lips on his. He opened his eyes in astonishment as Adolfine got up and winked at him as she walked away.

Slapping his hand to his face he went back to staring at the sea, his face bright red. He nervously glanced around making sure no one was watching before realizing how ridiculous that sounded, "_What's wrong with that I mean she is almost my age"_. He took another shot as he stood up and went back to the ship, "_This is going to be a looong trip."_

_Onboard the Ship, same time_

The soldier walked the ship with a bored expression on his face. Those who passed him barely acknowledged his presence; although the early morning helped. Those that did meet his gaze looked away; there was nothing special about him. He had been given a mission by his superior and he was following it to the letter; no questions asked. Following his few leads, the man searched the ship, discretely, for his prey. Finding a locked door marked "Auxiliary storage," he quickly bypassed the control panel and entered the room.

Turning on the lights he was greeted by stacks of storage crates, some knocked over and a pair of 1m tall black boxes. Recognizing what he had found he reached for his radio, "полковник, I have found something interesting." He relayed what he had found back to Sokolov as he waited for a response, "_**Разве? That is interesting indeed. Well done лейтена́нт, I shall alert Col. Vought to your find. Make it look as if you were never there and lock up."**_

As he left the room, Junior Lieutenant Artyom Gusev turned and reactivated the control panel for the door. Checking to make sure he was alone, Artyom left the passageway and headed to his quarters. He was done for the night.

_**July 16, 1945 0900 Hours- Borealis Crew Quarters**_

Yeager walked through the ships passageways as she followed CDR Ross's directions to Grant's room. Finally approaching the guarded room, she waited as they radioed her presence. Receiving approval they moved away allowing her to approach the door and knock; she waited until a muffled "enter" reached her ears and she opened the door.

Shirley had awoken early in the morning; unable to sleep long from the images she had witnessed. Deciding she had nothing better to do she checked on Francesca before heading out to the ship. She glanced up at the hull of the ship, still unable to believe how old it was as she passed through the checkpoint. She stopped at the open hanger bay as she waited for someone to come get her and take her to Vought or at least someone who knew where Carl was. "Good morning Capt. Yeager I wasn't expecting to see you here so early after… yesterday. I do wish to apologize for the graphic nature of our explaination."

Shirley turned to find Col. Sokolov striding towards her with another man walking along side. Speaking a few words to his aide, the man left as the colonel approached.

"Good morning sir, good to see you too. About yesterday… its ok just a little shocking; I don't think any of us were expecting any of that." She replied.

"What can I do for you today? I thought we decided we would meet up later to finish our… history lesson." He looked a little downcast as he said it; his smile strained.

She shook her head, "Well that is true but I wanted to check on Carl. Do you think I will be able to go see him?"

Sokolov thought about it for a moment before answering, "I do believe it should be ok he just isn't allowed to leave, if this was Russia, he wouldn't be allowed any contact at all."

She smiled, "Can you take me there?"

He frowned, "Unfortunately no, I'm still not well versed in navigating this ship yet and I believe the colonel is overseeing something his men found last night… We can try CDR Ross."

Entering the ship the two of them began their march to the bridge Yeager looked at the colonel and noticed his badge, "Colonel, what unit is that; what do you do?"

The colonel smiled as he continued walking, "I'm a member of what you would call Alpha Group. We are a special operations group of the Spetsnaz assigned to defending our president and counter-terrorism operations."

"Uh huh so then why are you here then? According to Col. Vought, most of the people assigned her are active combat troops."

Sokolov shrugged a slight smile visible on his face, "We are here, that is all that really matters isn't it? Ah CDR Ross there you are, we've been looking for you."

Shirley and Sokolov came around the corner to find Ross leaving the bridge yawning. He blinked in surprise before saluting, "Good morning sir, captain, what can I do for you two today."

Sokolov gestured to the witch, "the captain here was wishing to visit Capt. Grant and I do not know my way around the ship yet. I'm assuming you know?"

Ross nodded as he explained how to get to the crew quarters and with that Sokolov and Ross headed off to see what was making Vought so happy. She turned around and began heading to Carl's room.

_10 Minutes Later_

Shirley entered the room to see Carl leaning back in his chair, feet on his desk, as he read a book. Noticing who had entered he stood up as he smiled, "Shirley… what are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you, first you ran away yesterday, then I had to chase you down and then I watched you get shot thinking you died. How do think I feel about it" She calmed down, "Besides your superiors gave us a history lesson."

Grant frowned, "Just how much did-"

"World War I and II"

"…Oh…"

Shirley looked at the ground as the images swam back into her head. Watching her drop her gaze, Grant got up and hesitantly put his hand on her shoulder and lightly shook her. Shirley refused to make eye contact as she wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug and started to cry into his chest. Not knowing what else to do, he hugged her back and pat her awkwardly. They remained like that for a few minutes before she finally realized what she was doing and slowly pulled away. With one final sniff, she began to speak again, "…Thanks Carl."

Grant took a step back as he grabbed the back of his head, "No pr-problem Shirley… any time." He nervously glanced at her hoping she didn't feel the way he thought she did about him.

Picking up on his nervousness, Shirley put the two and two together and went red in the face as she realized his problem. "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING, IT'S NOT LIKE THAT." She took a deep breath before continuing, "I mean you're cute and all but… Vought told me about your sister and how I look like her. I kinda like that, I have no siblings of my own; I think it would be cool to have a brother. I'm sorry for prying into your life so much but I had to know." She looked down again, embarrassed.

Grant walked up to her after he cooled down and pat her on the head, "It's cool Shirley, no hard feelings. You want to meet her?"

She looked up and nodded. Grant told her to sit down as he grabbed a photo of his family and began to introduce them.

_**July 16, 1945 1115 Hours- Borealis Disembarking Point**_

Minna sighed as she walked towards the ship with the rest of the witches. After yesterday, none of them wanted to go back to continue. However the men did say they had some interesting history pertaining to them to discuss today, so she made them all return to the ship. As they approached, she walked up to Mio, "Did you see Capt. Yeager this morning; I wasn't able to find her?"

Mio nodded, "She left earlier, and I believe she was going to attempt to visit Capt. Grant."

As they approached, they noticed a gathering around one of the bays of the ship with Colonel Vought looking quite pleased.

"Good morning sir, what's going on here?"

Vought turned and his expression brightened, "Ladies"

Galland walked up to him, "Chris"

He sighed and looked at his fellow crew before glancing at Galland's amused face, "Adolfine."

The group all raised their eyebrows at this unexpected response; they had never heard the colonel break protocol before.

Minna turned to her superior, "Ma'am?"

"Bruderschaft trinken commander"

The Karlslanders' eyes lit up in understanding. Ross turned to the colonel, "Bruderschaft trinken? Isn't that the German drinking tradition that ends in a-"

"Back to what we are doing, Commander Ross," He glared at his XO as he turned to the witches, "We found some of our tech we thought was left behind." He gestured to the smallish crate-sized boxes behind him.

"So what are they?" asked Erica.

"Thomas! Peterson! Get this show rolling on the double!"

The two men that had been checking over the boxes jumped up, "SIR!" they yelled in unison.

Backing up from the two boxes, US Marine 1st Lt. Mitch Thomas yelled out, "CID 7, deploy!"

One of the unassuming boxes beeped as it began to change shape, growing larger and larger until a large 10ft humanoid shaped figure stood before them. He yelled out again, "CID 7, rider up!" The large figure dropped into a runners' stance and opened it's back allowing Thomas to run up and jump in; the back closing around him. Seconds later the humanoid stood up fluidly and looked around at the group, "_**Sir CID 7 looks good; no faults detected."**_ As -7 began to walk around with an engineer checking its movements, CID 8 was deployed as well.

The girls stood once again in amazement as the giants walked around with -7 walking up to Galland. It put it's hand out to her as the pilot spoke, "_**Good morning ma'am." **_Amazed, Galland shook its' surprisingly gentle handshake; once complete the giant walked off.

Galland turned to Vought, "Chris, what the hell are these things?"

Vought smiled as he turned to them, "Ladies, may I present to you the Cybernetic Infantry Device or CID, developed by Sky Masters. These suits were designed to protect the user from all aspects of combat and can be fitted with a variety of weapons to engage a variety of targets. Powered by a large battery, a fuel cell, or a hard line to a power system, the suit can operate for extended periods of time."

"Wow so these things can help protect people?" Yoshika asked in awe.

"Yes they can although technically they do not exist," He glared at Sokolov who shrugged and looked away.

"What do you mean they don't technically exist?" Gertrude asked.

Still glaring at Sokolov he responded, "Well the CID was a joint project between the army and air force with an intended use for the marines as well. However due to costing as much as a stealth bomber… only eight were made. The first four remained with a… joint private group and the air force, two were unfortunately destroyed and one damaged. Two stayed with Sky Masters for testing purposes and numbers 7 and 8 were sent to the SGC where they remained in storage till now."

"That sounds fascinating but if they were so good I would figure your government would still fork out the money for them," responded Mio.

"Well you see they were quite expensive, to the point where it meant halving someone's budget for the year and the fact that… well… the rest of the world was not quite… happy with its performance." He refused to make eye contact with Sokolov, who held a very impassive stare.

"How so?"

"Um that is actually classified not just from you guys but uh… Sokolov and his men as well."

There was silence as the Americans and Russians stared at each other.

Minna was getting nervous at the silence so she needed to speak, "So gentlemen, what's in those crates over there?"

Vought and Sokolov broke their staring contest to find what she was asking about. "Those?"

She nodded.

"A little something else from Sky Masters," Vought stated as he popped the top off the crate. Reaching in, he pulled out a grey one piece suit. "A suit?"

Vought nodded, "Not just any suit, colonel if you would please?" He beckoned to Sokolov as he connected a battery to the suit and held it in front of him. Sokolov nodded as he backed off; drawing his sidearm and taking aim at Vought.

The girls glanced in alarm at what was transpiring; he wasn't going to shoot was he?

Sokolov sighted in the colonel and fired twice; the sharp cracks of the pistol echoing over the airfield. Vought staggered back but stayed standing as he holstered his weapon. Yoshika ran over to him ready to use her magic when the colonel showed her the impact points; there were no holes, or even marks for that matter. She was astonished, "How?"

"This is called a BERP suit; it stands for Battle Electro-Responsive Protection. This suit is made out of a special material which feels like a thick fabric most of the time. The battery however sends a constant electric charge through the suit. When hit hard and fast enough by say a bullet, the fabric hardens to a strength stronger than steel. When paired with the exoskeleton, this suit becomes known as the Tin Man armor system. This suit can withstand most small-arms fire and some cannon rounds. Equipped with special systems this suit is the perfect equipment for any soldier." He threw the suit back in the crate, "Now I believe we had some more information pertaining to you ladies before we got back to our history lesson." The girls saddened as they remembered the previous day.

Adolfine walked up, "Lead the way Chris."

_**July 16, 1945 1213 Hours - Borealis Briefing Room**_

The gathered group slowly ate as Vought stood up again to begin talking. As he did so, a number of photos appeared on the wall behind him; this made the girls curious because there were twelve of them. "Minna do you remember when we first met how interested we were in your names?"

She nodded.

One of the photos were selected and filled the screen, Minna grew interested because the young man had a Luftwaffe insignia on his coat.

"Well you see…" Vought began with a small grin as a name appeared at the bottom of the screen. Minna's jaw nearly dropped to the table. "Wh-Wha-What," She collapsed back in here chair. The name on the bottom of the screen glared back at them, Wolf-Dietrich "Fürst" Wilcke.

"It seems that each of you witches are the gender opposite of aces from our world; Including you Adolfine." The image changed to show another man with a mustache with the name Adolf Galland.

The images slowly changed from one to the next, the names Saburō Sakai, Gerhard "Gerd" Barkhorn, Erich Alfred Hartmann, Pierre Henri Clostermann, Franco Lucchini, Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager, and Kaneyoshi Muto shined back at them. The girls were stunned. "Unfortuantly for Miss Bishop, we couldn't find a British ace with your name. Your father is Billy Bishop correct?"

She blinked a few times before nodding.

"We think you must be one of his sons," he noticed the panicked expression on her face, "In our reality," she calmed down.

Eila stomped over to him, "What about Sanya?"

The images changed to the one woman in the collection, the name Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak visible. "It seems that you Sanya are our world's counterpart of her."

The men continued their introduction to the witches other worldly counterparts; stunning them into silence. Barkhorn and Hartmann were slightly embarrassed about the names of their counterpart's wives. Not one of them asked a question during the entire thing. About an hour in, the door opened.

"Hey guys… what's wrong?" Shirley asked in alarm noticing the stunned faces on her friends.

Francesca sniffed and began to cry as she pointed at the wall, "You're a guy!"

Yeager whipped her head to the wall as an image of a man named Chuck Yeager appeared. Realizing the implication of what was being shown, she promptly fainted.

Watching her drop to the ground Vought turned to the others, "You know what, we can cover the rest of our history tomorrow."

_**August 21, 1945 0930 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Base, Pescara, Venezia**_

Another month had passed since the _Borealis_ had arrived in this reality. The crew was slowing getting accustomed to it although the sight of the witches still sent most of them walking into walls and such. The crew had finished their history lesson finally getting to modern times after the long and awkward explaination of the Cold War. The witches finally understood the tension between Vought and Sokolov. The men had even explained the current situation with the aliens in their reality. Since then, the witches and the ships fighters had completed numerous joint patrols and the pilots were slowing racking up the kills while Jumpers and Galland's men searched for a piece of quartz that would fix the ship.

Vought had originally stalked his ship growing bored and restless from being unable to do anything. A few friendly spars with Sokolov and range time had yet to break the monotony. He was on the range when he received word from the ship that a C-47 and Ju-52 were en route to the base. He cleared his rifle and slung it over his shoulder as he headed to the runway to meet their guest.

As he walked Vought thought back to the conversation he had with Air Marshal Gal- no Adolfine, before she left.

"_Well Chris it was nice meeting you."_

"_Likewise Adolfine, a shame to see you go."_

"_Ah is someone going to miss me?" she winked at him._

_He sputtered, "Bah wha? No I mean it was nice having someone here to help us, the 501__st__ is good but we're getting antsy; we need to start fighting these things now."_

_She nodded in understanding, "I know Chris but you know command as well; always sitting on their damn asses and twiddling their thumbs. For whatever reason they don't want you to go into combat until they send someone over to check you out first."_

_He looked back at her confused, "I thought that's what you were here for?"_

_She shook her head, "Nope sorry Vought but I was here for the witches, not you."_

_He stopped walking, "You do know there is a reason we made contact with a witch group and not a countries' leaders correct?"_

"_Yes I do and unfortunately that means nothing to them till someone comes to check it out." She looked at the unhappy expression on his face, "Look as long as you're here you have my protection and the protection of the five-oh-first. However I know you won't be sitting here forever which is why I have a new plan, but it will take a while to get it together."_

"_And that is?"_

_She smiled as she turned to face him, "You're going to get your own liaison group of witches."_

"…_What?" _

She had gone onto explain that she was going to get together some of her best witches to put together a small group that would be attached to the ship. That way the ship was in contact with her at all times and no government would dare do anything to harm the witches. About a week ago the ship received word that the group was on the move towards them, with the inspectors not far behind them. So here he was now, with Ross, Sokolov, Volkov, Pierce and the witches waiting for their new guest to arrive.

"So Vitaly, any progress on our little project?" Vought whispered to Sokolov.

He frowned before answering, "No I'm sorry Chris; this man is covering his tracks well. My man is the best though; do not worry he will find him soon."

Vought nodded and watched as the Ju-52 touched down and taxied to the edge with the C-47 landing soon after. Adolfine exited the Karlslandic transport and waved to the gathered group. "Come on let's go meet our guest shall we?"

_Ju-52, 501__st__ JFW Runway_

Adolfine squinted as she exited the transport; the bright sun irritating her eyes. Finally adjusting, she noticed the men from the other reality and the witches waiting for her on the other side of the runway. Waving to them she yelled back into the plane, "Alright we're here; grab your stuff and move out, Pilot, radio the others to do the same." A chorus of "yes ma'am's," rang back to her. Turning around again she found Minna standing and saluting her, "Good morning ma'am."

She returned the salute, "Morning commander," she glanced at Vought, "he giving you any trouble yet?"

Minna smiled, "Why yes actually, he keeps destroying targets; we are running out yet again."

Vought tried to keep a straight face as Galland glared at him with one eye, "Is that so…hm." She eyed the rifle on his back as four witches exited the plane. "May I see that?"

Chris nodded as he removed the long rifle from his shoulder and handed it over. Expecting it to be very heavy Galland was pleasantly surprised to find it weighted less than the Boys Anti-Tank Rifle it resembled. "What is this?"

"That ma'am is…" he began before her glare stopped him. He sighed before he tried again, "That Adolfine is the M200 CheyTac Intervention sniper rifle. It shoots a .408 caliber slug accurately up to 2500 yards although longer shots have been recorded."

The newcomers were surprised to hear this. "Really is that so?" She looked around, "Bishop."

Lynette jumped and walked up, "Ye-yes ma'am?"

"Have you tried shooting this yet?"

She nodded, "Yes ma'am."

"Is it all he claims it is?"

At this point in time the three witches from the other transport had made their way over.

"Yes ma'am, it was quite nice to shoot. It has a computer to help with really long shots."

"Really hm…" Galland turned to find all of her chosen group behind her, "Well then we will continue this later," she handed the rifle back, "I believe introductions are in order." She motioned for one of the witches to step forward.

A taller witch, Vought estimated at 5'8", with back length black hair, stepped forward and saluted, "Good Morning Ladies, Gentlemen; Lt. Col. Josephine Foss, Liberion Marines, reporting for duty."

The officers saluted back as Ross whispered in Vought's ear, "Foss as in the US Marines greatest ace Foss?"

"It appears so," he whispered back as the next witch, the oldest looking besides Galland, took her place and saluted, "Good morning, Oberstleutnant Huberta von Bonin, Karlsland Air Force, reporting in."

The officers saluted as the witches came up one-by-one to introduce themselves. The witches included Maj. Rudel of Karlsland, Maj. Heinrike Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein of Karlsland, Lt. Galina D. Kostilev of Orussia, 1st Lt. Harris of the Liberion Navy, and finally a Maj. Preddy of the Liberion Army Air Corp. Once complete the witches stood waiting for Galland to prompt them.

"Well gentlemen what do you think, pretty cool if I say so myself," she stated proudly as she showed off her choices.

The officers of the _Borealis _shook their heads; amused expressions on their faces as they looked at each other. "I think we'll get along fine Adolfine; Greeting I'm Col. Christopher Vought, CO of the _Borealis_. I would like to welcome you to the ship; hopefully this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

The new arrivals smiled warmly at this declaration, the youngest however just stared with a blank expression. With that finally note the groups were released as Galland and Vought, with Foss and von Bonin following, headed back to the range. The men and women greeted and began to mingle as they introduced each other.

"Harris, Preddy, it's good to see you two again, and congrats on the promotion ma'am," Shirley stated as she walked up to the two Liberions.

The two in question turned to her with smiles, "Oh hey Shirley, haven't seen you since… since you signed up I guess," Responded the navy witch.

Preddy nodded as well, "Thanks _Captain_, it is good to see you again. I haven't seen you since flight training," she stated with her tongue out and a slight British accent. "So I heard you broke Mach 1 finally last year, congrats."

Shirley rolled her eyes, "Thanks _Ma'am,_ that means a lot. So what's with you being grounded? I heard you're banned from fighting for a little while."

Preddy frowned and sighed as she rubbed her leg, "I got hit by friendly AA again; took out my striker and tore me up pretty bad. I was able to heal most of it but command thinks I should stay grounded till they say otherwise."

Cecilia spun on her, "What do you mean grounded you never told me that on the way over."

"I'm sorry I thought you knew, besides you didn't see my striker in there did you?"

"But I thought it was getting shipped separately; I'm sorry ma'am."

"It's cool don't worry about it. I'll be back in the air in no time at all."

Shirley looked at her, "You have a P-40 right? It's a good bird."

Preddy shook her head, "I did, I upgraded to a Mustang, which I believe you also have."

Shirley nodded and began to explain her love for her striker, Merlin. Meanwhile Yoshika, Lynette and Hartmann, were introducing themselves to the two Karlslandic witches while Eila, Gertrude, and Sanya were speaking with Galina.

"So um hi, I'm Yoshika and this is Lynette, what are your names again?"

The older of the two, with waist length silver hair and a scar on her face smiled and answered. "Hello Yoshika, Lynette, I'm Maj. Hanna Rudel with the Karlsland Air Force stG2 3rd squadron. I'm a ground attack witch." She looked at Hartmann, "Erica it is good to see you again, and how have you been? Keeping Gertrude out of trouble?" She asked calmly.

Erica nodded enthusiastically, "I'm trying my best but it's hard." She pouted as she grabbed Yoshika, "Besides Miyafuji here is doing a much better job; she already saved Trude once."

The major gave her a once over making her nervous. "Well then very well done sergeant; I thank you for keeping her alive and fighting, for us and her sister."

Yoshika relaxed, "thanks ma'am but I was helping people; just like I said I would."

Looking past her she noticed someone else, "Is that you Perrine?"

"Maj. Rudel, it's good to see you again how have you been ma'am."

The two of them walked off as they began to discuss themselves.

"So you saved Capt. Barkhorn?" the other witch asked surprising Lyn who forgot she was there.

Yoshika blinked, "Yes ma'am… who are you again?"

The young witch sighed, "I am Heinrike Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein; a major in the Karlsland Air Force night fighter squadron and the commanding officer of the 506th JFW A-team."

She blinked again, "Oh wow your name is so long Miss Sa-wi… uh"

"Just call her Princess, we all do," Maj. Rudel called as she continued her discussion with Perrine.

Heinrike glared as she turned to her counterpart, "Rudel, why?"

"Your name is too long for most normal people; live with it."

As she walked away, clearly irritated, the remaining officers from the ship began introducing themselves to their temporary crew members.

_501__st__ JFW Firing Range_

Loading his rifle back up Vought screwed the suppressor onto the barrel before handing it to Galland. "What is that and what's this about a computer helping shoot?"

"No, you can use the scope first like everybody else. As for the addition… you will have to shoot it and see."

"Fine" she pouted as she sighted in her first target. Cycling the bolt, she held her breath and fired. Expecting a loud report, the women were stunned when nothing but a quiet "hiss" escaped the barrel; Galland's target vanished as the round hit.

Stunned once again Galland turned to Vought, "Interesting."

"That, Adolfine, ladies, was a sound suppressor, it cuts down on the weapon's report but it decreases range;" he pulled out another sidearm. "This is an FN Five-Seven, my sidearm of choice. This is also a suppressible weapon." He drew out yet another suppressor as he screwed it on the barrel and handed it to Foss motioning for her to shoot it. She shrugged as she sighted in and fired twice, the pistol barely making a whisper as it fired. Intrigue, she looked the weapon over.

"Very cool sir, what's it made of, it feels like plastic?"

Glancing at the waiting expression on Galland's face Vought sighed before answering, "It is made out of a plastic composite and is much stronger than any plastic; it's called a polymer. As for my name…" Galland nodded at him to continue, "Look if it's just us around go ahead and call me Chris or Adolfine over here is going to make us do something interesting while she watches."

Von Bonin raised an eyebrow as she smirked while Foss looked him up and down before nodding and answering, "Alright if you insist _Chris._"

Vought hung his head yet again, what was with these ladies? They were way too forward. Glancing up he noticed Galland nodding in approval before she motioned for him to hand something over. Remembering what she wanted he grabbed the ABC* (Advanced Ballistic Computer) from his back, plugging in the KESTREL weather system and handing it to her. "Adjust the scope till the computer says to stop."

She nodded and followed the directions shown to her; adjusting it to match. She finally lined up, chambered another round, and fired at the long range target, hitting it dead center. She pulled back the bolt, ejecting her brass, as she stood up to stare at the target and then Vought. "Damn Chris that is pretty awesome can I keep it?" She asked nicely.

"…No…"

"Fine, Foss, von Bonin, let's get you situated on the ship, Chris if you would lead the way?"

_**August 21, 1945 Time unknown, location unknown**_

The man sat at his desk reviewing the information he had received on the ship and men from the other reality. He flipped through the folder and found the picture of the massive alien ship docked next to the 501st base. He growled as he looked at the witches in the photo; what he wouldn't give to run them out of the military. He needed more intel on them; anything he could use to get them to help with this goal. He checked his radio logs confirming his man had made it into the observation team heading towards the ship. Leaning back in his chair the man pulled a photo off of his desk; two men visible in front of a hanger; himself and a Chief Air Marshall shaking hands in a secret meeting. "Soon the witches will be removed from duty and men will once again be in control of warfare."

_**August 21, 1945 1200 Hours- Borealis Drone Storage**_

As Lt. Gusev approached the Drone storage bay he drew his sidearm; something was wrong. Glancing around the corner he froze as he noticed the storage bay guards on the floor and not moving. Checking to make sure the coast was clear he silently rushed up and checked their vitals; both were unconscious but alive. Screwing the silencer on his handgun, a MP-443, he activated the door and slipped inside. Artyom slipped his NVGs on and began to clear the unusually dark room, row by row of the Drone racks, heading to where he knew the ships special weapons were stored; two dozen nuclear missiles including a pair of Mark IXs.

After sweeping the room and finding no one, he returned to the missiles. Reviewing the stolen plans for the weapons, Gusev checked the integrity of each one, making sure they had not been tampered with. Finding no sabotage he carefully and slowly made his way back out of the room. As he slipped past the still unconscious guards he reached for his radio, "полковник, this is призрак; weapon storage has been compromised, guards are unconscious, requesting orders."

"_**призрак stand guard till support teams arrive; leave before you make contact**_."

"понятый"

Artyom had to wait for five minutes before he heard people rushing towards him; taking a quick glance, he slipped off down another passageway as medics began to check the slowly waking guards.

_**August 21, 1945 1600 Hours- Borealis Crew Quarters**_

"And this will be your room Miss Foss."

'Snort', "Please call me Joe; and thanks, looks pretty cool."

"Joe?"

"I learned long ago that Josephine is long and boring and I don't like it. Joe is so much cooler and easier to remember."

"But isn't it a guy's name?"

"Bah who cares, I'll see you later then Chris, I'd like to catch some sleep before dinner, if that's alright."

"Be my guest."

"Thanks sir, see you later," she called as she closed the door. What was with these witches and their almost total disregard for protocol?

After showing the witches to where they would be staying for their duration, Vought immediately made a beeline for the infirmary.

Entering he ran into Ross, Volkov, Sokolov, and Pierce, "Report now."

Pierce went first, "Sir it appears that both of them have a concussion with one broken arm and a dislocated knee."

"Do they remember anything?"

He shook his head, "As of now no; I'll keep trying to get anything out of them but don't count on it."

"Vitaly, what about you?"

"The bay was secure, the payloads were intact, and your men confirmed it."

"Alexei did any of your men see anyone acting suspicious?"

"Het, I'm sorry sir, no one saw anything. I have told them to alert us if they see anything unusual… more so than normal."

The colonel looked at the wall thinking, "Matt what do you think."

"Sir we need to double the guards at all critical systems; the bridge, ZPG, armory, drone storage, hell even the SA-21 is going to need extra protection now."

"Do it, has anyone checked the internal sensor logs yet?"

"I did and they were offline during that time period," Dr. Lansby stated as he entered the infirmary.

"Evan how the hell did you get past-"

"Please sir I know Ancient systems off the back of my hand, bypassing the door lock was simple."

Vought glared at him.

"The sensors are still fragile after the attack; we have to constantly reset and recalibrate the internal scans. When we get Serenity back it won't be a problem anymore. There is a reason this ship is called what it is sir, you know that better than anyone."

He growled, "So we have nothing then?"

No one said anything, "Damn it," he punched the wall. "Ross, Alexei, pick some men and put them on patrol. This does not leave this room; do you understand?"

They nodded as they left, "Pierce…"

"Take reports from them as soon as possible and tell them to keep it silent, got it." He turned and made his way over to his patients.

After the he left he turned to the remaining two, "Alright Doc what do you have?"

Lansby nodded as he pulled out a data pad, "This is all that we were able to recover from the camera Sokolov's man recovered."

The three watched the video showing the door of the Drone storage, after 5 minutes of watching the guards changed shifts. The doctor fast-forwarded it to an hour later. The lights in the passageway went out causing the men to turn on their lights with one reaching for his radio. As he went to activate it one of them was disarmed, kicked in the leg, and thrown, headfirst, to the floor; knocking him out cold. Before the other guard could react, he was hit with a haymaker that sent him into the ceiling; dropping to the floor in a heap; the unknown assailant's eyes flashed in the darkness. As they watched, a light fell from one of the guards fell, partially illuminating their assailant; a standard set of fatigues and a standard SGC black vest was visible before he moved out of the way and ripped the camera from its mount, throwing it to the ground and killing the image.

"That's it?"

"Yep"

"…"

"He's a Goa'uld… shit. That makes things exponentially harder."

Vought sat down in the closest chair, "Vitaly, I'm authorizing your man to carry a Zat, a Wraith stunner ain't going to cut it."

Sokolov nodded, "Understood, I will let him know to head to the armory."

"Alright then, dismissed."

With that Sokolov left, leaving Lansby and the colonel. "Well Evan, things just keep getting better don't they?"

"We'll get him sir, don't worry about it. I'm going to go and make sure the sensors stay operating. Try and calm down Chris," with that Dr. Lansby turned and left leaving Vought with his thoughts.

_**August 22, 1945 0001 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Runway**_

For the second time, Vought found himself alone on the edge of the runway staring out at the sea with his dwindling bottle of whiskey. Taking a quick look around to make sure no witches were sneaking up behind him as he finally relaxed. Pouring himself a shot he looked deep into the glass before downing it. Despite showing a strong front, Chris was tearing himself apart on the inside. Being unable to return home, the men he already lost, and now a Goa'uld lose on the ship; the stress was killing him. He sighed in misery as he ran his hand through his hair; his eyes glazed over as he let his thoughts swim. Hearing footsteps behind him he drew his particle magnum as he spun around, finding one of the new witches.

"Geez Preddy you almost gave me a heart attack. I'm sorry for pulling a weapon on you; old habits die hard I guess." He holstered his weapon, "What are you doing out here?"

"It's ok sir, it's my fault; Maj. Sayn-Wittgenstein woke me because she forgot how to exit the ship."

Remembering the young major's request to go on night patrol with Sanya he nodded before frowning and checking his watch, "Didn't she leave three hours ago?"

She went red in the face as she looked at the ground, "I may have wandered the ship for a while before I got lost… it is a little on the large size." There was an awkward silence as neither of them spoke.

Noticing the nervous expression on her face, he sighed, "Come on Preddy, take a seat; what's on your mind?" He asked as he poured himself another shot.

She sat down and looked up at the sky while sighing, "I really miss flying with my striker."

He looked at her curiously, "You're a witch, can't you just take anything up?"

She looked at him; a sad expression on her face, "I'm medically grounded; at least for a while. I mean I can go up in planes but due to my injuries I'm not allowed near a striker."

He looked at her with concern etched on his face, "You're hurt? What happened? We can have Sgt. Miyafuji take a lo-"

She shook her head, "I'm technically fine; all witches have the ability to heal small injuries and some have very limited abilities to heal large ones. I healed my injuries the best I could but I'm still weak from it. Sgt. Miyafuji wouldn't be able to do anything to help me unless I intentionally hurt myself. As for how… I got hit by friendly AA fire. May I ask why you are here sir?"

Vought looked out at sea before, answering, "Clearing my head I guess," he took a drink, "Running the ship, keeping the crews' morale up, helping the 501st defending against laser spewing, regenerating aliens… it gets stressful. I found this spot the first night we were here and I find it refreshing. Our reality has too much light pollution; you can't see the stars. When I found out about the Stargate program I jumped at the chance. I wanted to explore space and I got my wish. All the different aliens I've met; it's fascinating," he finished the glass.

Preddy sat there soaking his explaination in, "Thanks sir for the explaination; I understand now."

Vought snorted, "Come on Preddy, I've got von Bonin and Foss calling me Chris, I don't see why you can't too."

She sat there for a minute as a small smile formed on her face, "Very well… Chris, then you can call me by my first name too."

Standing up the two of them walked towards each other; hands out, "Alright then Geena, it's nice to meet you." They shook hands.

"Thanks Chris but you don't need to use that name."

"Oh?"

"You can call me Jean."

Hidden in the trees behind them Galland smiled to herself as she fist-pumped.

_**May 11, 2018 1230 Hours- Atlantis Conference Room**_

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, WAIT! So you're telling me that you are one of these… witches!?" Sheppard asked flabbergasted.

Jean's smile grew huge as an image of the _Borealis'_ liaison group and the crew appeared on the screen with her highlighted. She winked at Sheppard as she turned Rodney and began to glow, "Honestly Dr. McKay, after everything Chris has told me about you, I expected you to find something different about me almost immediately." The glow subsided as her familiar, a goshawk, appeared with feathers sticking out of her head and lower back.

She turned to General O'Neill; ignoring the amazed expressions she was receiving and saluted, "Geena Vought, formerly Maj. Geena Preddy, Liberion Army Air Corp, retired, reporting in sir."

*******Bruderschaft trinken- interesting story; I have a German, female friend who decided to… introduce me to this tradition. She decided to show me first before explaining it; she and her friends thought that my expression was the funniest thing they had ever seen. Don't worry guys I'm 21; I can drink.**

***ABC- So I'm not a sniper, I've never used the ABC although I have shot an M-310 (close enough) and it was sweet. I dumbed the advanced system down to some visual cues; do you blame me?**

**So the plot thickens… What will happen next? Anyway there we go ladies and gents; I did that. Didn't see that coming did you? As for my OC Lt. Col. Foss and the other witches… you will just have to wait and see; I can't give all my secrets away yet can I? I want to thank everyone for the reviews; keep them coming guys, you all rock. I know I asked for OCs and stuff guys and I love what I'm getting; you people are giving me some awesome ideas. Soon maybe people will begin seeing them. I'm finding that writing this story is a lot more… what's the word I'm looking for? Addicting would probably be the best description; I am a few chapters ahead at this point in time… I can't stop writing. BTW no one has responded to my pleas for a Beta reader. I have gotten interested parties and yet no one has responded to my answers. Tune in next week readers for another exciting chapter in ****A Long Walk in the Dark****; Ghostrider21 signing off. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Calm before the Storm **

**Greetings once again internet; how's it going? So I just noticed that I double posted chapter 2 and never added chapter 3. I feel stupid right about now… I'm real sorry guys. Well it's fixed now so you guys get two for one this week. You guys are lucky. I don't own anything but my OCs and the story, everything else belongs to their respective owners. **

_**Previously**_

"_Wait, wait, wait, wait, WAIT! So you're telling me that you are one of these… witches!?" Sheppard asked flabbergasted. _

_Jean's smile grew huge as the image of the Borealis' liaison group and the crew appeared on the screen with her highlighted. She answered as she looked at Rodney and began to glow, "Honestly Dr. McKay, after everything Chris has told me about you, I expected you to find something different about me almost immediately." The glow subsided as her familiar, a goshawk, appeared with feathers sticking out of her head and lower back._

_She turned to General O'Neill; ignoring the amazed expressions she was receiving and saluted, "Geena Vought, formerly Maj. Geena Preddy, Liberion Army Air Corp, Retired, reporting in Sir." _

_**May 11, 2018 1230 Hours- Atlantis Conference Room**_

No one in the room spoke as they stared at Jean and Jack as the latter returned the salute. Cutting her salute she went to parade rest as she continued to grin, staring straight at him. Behind her while everyone else was distracted Chris carefully climbed out of the wheelchair and began sneaking to the door. "And where do you think you're going colonel?"

Vought froze as he slowly turned around to see Gen. Landry staring at him, gathering the attention of the remaining people in the room. "Uh… bathroom sir?"

He watched his wife begin to giggle as he looked like a deer caught in headlights. Defeated he returned to his chair. O'Neill stared him down; a frown visible on his faced as the silence continued. As he opened his mouth to tell Vought to continue his debriefing, his stomach gurgled loudly finally causing Jean to finally break down laughing. Dropping his head back to the table, he mumbled out, "Break for lunch. Meet back in… an hour." Standing up he hit the shutter controls and walked out, ignoring the people rushing away from the room. Standing up Landry shook his head while smirking and left as well.

Vought slumped in his chair as he glared at his wife; on the floor and laughing, "Smooth." Standing up he walked over and helped pull her back to her feet. She stopped laughing wiping her tears away as the three doctors and Sheppard walked up; Ross watched from behind him. Noticing Sheppard eyeing her ears she rolled her eyes, "Go ahead colonel, they are real, please don't pull on them."

Snapping himself out of his stare he grabbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Uh it's fine that was rude… sorry."

She shook her head, "No problem, now come on, you and I both know you want to see if they are real," she glanced at her husband, elbowing him in the chest. "Right sweetie?"

Vought staggered and cut the impassive stare he had been giving, "huh what?... Oh sure just please don't pull on them… she will stab you."

The four blinked in unison wondering how he knew that was how she'd react. She tilted her head towards him as Sheppard slowly reached up to feel her feathery ears; marveling in their realness. While this was going on McKay had already pulled a modified Life signs detector out and was scanning her trying to discover how the medical scanner failed to detect any abnormalities such as her abilities. The others stood back as Sheppard pulled his hand away.

"Wow… that's cool. Thanks Jean."

"No problem," she answered warmly as she dismissed her familiar sending McKay into a fit as the scanner lit up. He looked at her, "Can you do that again?"

"Ye-no sorry, maybe later. Come on love, I'm hungry," she stated with a wink to Rodney as she grabbed Chris's shirt and hauled him out; Beckett hot on their heels telling Vought he should really be in the chair still and Ross shaking his head.

Sheppard looked at the other two remaining men, "Well come on I'm hungry too. If I don't get a pudding I'm taking yours McKay so hurry up."

_Atlantis Mess Hall- West Pier_

The mess hall was busy as usual, filled with everyone talking to each other about various things. Most notably so was the return of the Lantean battleship; the doors opened letting Sheppard and company in. As the group entered the conversations died off as they noticed who had entered; they stood awkwardly in the doorway as the silence stretched on until a lone man stood up and began clapping. Soon the entire room was cheering and clapping welcoming the lost men home. The men and women of Atlantis came up to them and began congratulating Ross and Vought on finding their way back while the others stood back and watched.

Sheppard was noticing the glazed expression on Vought's face and turned to Jean, "How is he? And I mean really, not this bullshit he keeps spouting."

Jean's expression dropped and she sighed, "He's in bad shape; he blames himself for the people he's lost and it's tearing him up. He refuses to admit it but I've seen it; the shakes, the nightmares, the thousand yard stare; Frank and I both thought he had PTSD; the ship had no counselor and he needed to talk to someone. He wouldn't talk with me about it."

Sheppard looked back at the colonel, concerned, "Is there a chance that it isn't PTSD and he just needs closure or something?"

"Maybe but we won't know for sure until we convince him to talk. Don't tell the general yet, maybe… maybe reliving all of it will help him. I don't know; if he gets any worse I will tell O'Neill myself."

He looked back at Vought again, "_what the hell happened Chris?"_

_**May 11, 2018 1330 Hours- Atlantis Conference Room**_

O'Neill glared at everyone in the room as he shut and locked the shutters. "Everyone full now? No more interruptions then?" The room was silent as Vought stood nervously in the center of the room with Jean right next to him.

Nodding to himself Jack leaned forward in his chair, "Alright then you three, let's get back to business."

"Yes sir," they spoke in unison.

_**August 28, 1945 1000 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Runway**_

Vought and his entourage stood on the edge of the runway watching the Ju-52 and its escort of Bf-109s land. He spoke to his right, "So any idea who they sent?"

Foss shook her head, "No idea sir, they would normally send someone like Air Marshall Maloney but after his last… command, the brass no longer feels that is the right way to go about things. What do you think Huberta?"

Huberta shrugged, "No idea," she began as people began to disembark the transport, "Though it looks like Lt. Hartmann does."

Turning to the 501st, he watched as Erica sprinted across the runway to tackle a witch exiting the plane. Staring at Hartmann he shook his head, he was seeing double. "She has a twin?"

"Ah right Ursula; she works with the Neue Karlsland Technisch Ministerium; Karlsland's technology development center. Last I heard she was attempting to fix the jet striker prototype."

"Jet striker? I'm assuming it's based on the Me-262 or the Meteor correct?"

Foss shook her head in wonder, he knew so much. "Yep the 262; the 501st was testing it earlier this year but it had a problem and Barkhorn crashed; twice."

He watched Ursula and some men interact with the 501st as they headed his way, "_Wonder if we could help them in the engineering part of it? Bah, stupid timeline, I'll talk to Matt and Vitaly… see what they think."_

A bump shook him from his thoughts as he noticed Minna and their new guest standing in front of them; saluting.

"Sir, Lt. Ursula Hartmann of the Neue Karlsland Technisch Ministerium, reporting for your review and inspection."

He returned the salute, "Nice to meet you lieutenant, I am Col. Christopher Vought, CO of the _DSV Borealis_." He watched someone else exit the plane, stretch and make their way over. "Friend of yours?" he indicated.

The witches turned around; noticing who it was Minna sighed as Barkhorn growled. Things just got difficult. The tall, blond haired witch made her way over, completely ignoring Barkhorn and Minna, and looked him up and down before speaking, "Hey sir, I'm Capt. Hanna Marseille." She winked as she spoke again, "So then how about w-" Gertrud clamped her hand over her mouth as she and Erica dragged her away. Minna sighed as she gave an apologetic glance to Vought, "Sorry sir, she's a little… unruly."

She turned to Ursula, "Really lieutenant, her?"

Hartmann looked down, "Sorry ma'am it wasn't my decision; Air Marshall Galland said she had a gut feeling she might be needed; she is my protection."

Vought and Minna frowned at this, this was not what they needed right now. While the 501st dealt with Marseille, Vought invited the observation group to the ship. He wanted to get started on wiping out these invaders.

_**August 28, 1945 1100 Hours- Borealis**_

While Vought and Dr. Lansby gave Ursula and her senior technicians a tour, the other men were given permission to explore the ship and record anything they felt necessary. One of these men was a Britannian photographer with the name Wells stitched on his uniform. Walking through the ship Wells took as many photos as possible, asking the crew what he would be able to document; he was in awe of the technology these people had available.

Finally finding himself alone in the large ship Wells cut his stupid grin and checked to make sure his hidden sidearm was loaded. Finding it was he slipped off through to the engineering spaces; he had a mission to complete.

_15 minutes later_

Wells peered around the corner making sure the coast was clear as he made his way towards the ships engines. He had found the primary weapon storage but two heavily armed and armored guards discouraged him from trying to enter. Hoping he wasn't seen, he wandered towards the rear hoping to find what powered this impressive ship. Approaching a door marked ZPG and finding it open, he entered the room, weapon out.

He lowered his weapon as he took in the sight of the ships primary power system, the Zero Point Energy Generator. Based on the Ancient's failed Project Arcturus, the energy generation system was McKay's baby. After his slight set back destroying a solar system with the Ancient's version, McKay had continued to work on it, developing the matter bridge. Further development and a little help from a certain owner of an aerospace company, he had finally managed to contain the volatile nature of the reaction allowing nearly limitless energy. Wondering how he could prove it worked he realized the answer lay right in front of him. Removing the _Borealis' _normal power system, he gained enough room to build his full sized prototype. Powering the system up remotely in the space between galaxies the generator started and held within acceptable limits; his creation had worked.

"Impressive isn't it?" A distorted voice asked from his side. Wells raised his weapon and spun only to find it easily pulled out of his hands. A man dressed in camouflage with a black vest stared back at him amused as he backed away slowly. "The Tau'ri never seize to amaze me… it is why they are a threat."

"Wh-who are you?" Wells asked as he panicked, backing away from the man.

The others eyes flashed yellow as he gave him an evil smile, "I am a man you can trust." He reached into his pocket causing Wells to flinch and close his eyes. The rustling of paper caused him to open them once again; the strange man was holding out a stack of photos and paper to him. Curious, he grabbed them and began to flip through them. They were photos and documentation on various portions of the ship. Finding the last one marked 'Important' he opened it. A picture of something called a Mark IX was displayed. "What is all this?"

The man grinned, "A gift… now I suggest leaving, these men have not radioed in for some time now." He gestured to the unconscious two behind him before he handed him a device that resembled a radio. "Give this to your boss, I will be in touch." With that the man turned and left.

Wells looked at the device in his hand before looking at the papers again thinking about what the man had said. Hiding the papers and the device in his camera bag he stared at the ZPG until he heard sounds out in the hall. Scared, he turned and sprinted out trying to find his way out of the ship.

From the darkness in the back of the room, Artyom watched as the support teams entered weapons drawn. He watched the men help the guards up and lead them from the room; they had been told not to search it. Once they moved on he left the safety of the darkness and pulled up his camera to check his photos. He frowned as he flipped through them; he had only gotten one photo of interest. The bulky Stargate member had kept his face hidden well; all identifying marks had been removed from his uniform. He would have finally captured or at least stunned the guy but then there was the unexpected turn of events. He looked at the photo of the other man who entered, he didn't get much but he knew they were with the team researching the ship. He reached for his radio, "полковник, we have a new situation."

He waited for the reply, "_**What is it призрак**_?"

He relayed the information and waited for orders, "_**призрак, meet me and give me your intel; I will show Crosshair."**_

"понятый moving to the rendezvous point." With that complete he silently left the room. "_We must act soon; we cannot allow anyone to die."_

_**August 28, 1945 1745 Hours- Borealis Bay 1 **_

"Sir –," began CDR Ross as he entered the bay; stopping as he saw the situation. Col. Vought was fast asleep in a chair; his feet on a nearby workbench and a book open and lying on his face as he lightly snored. Near him were most of the witches trying to decide what do with him while the crew pretended to ignore them. Shaking his head he observed the scene with a small grin on his face; he still found it hard to believe these kids were soldiers. Preddy and Harris were watching in amusement as Foss was attempting to lift his shirt. Kostilev was in the corner talking with Eila and Sanya. The remaining witches and the 501st were crowded around Capt. Grant as he played some songs for them on his guitar and amp he had brought with him, somehow; Ross had no idea really. He turned to a passing crewman asking him what had happened.

He explained that Vought had seen the observation team off for the day and had come back in there to read. He continued to say about an hour in Vought finally closed his eyes and fell asleep; the witches had found him like that about 30 minutes ago. After that Grant walked in to find them all bored and decided he play a little music for him and went to get his equipment and that was it. Thanking the crewman Ross walked forward; an evil smile on his face as he realized what he could do. Reaching into his hip pouch, he grab onto a small white object as he approached them. "Evening everyone."

They all turned to him as Grant stopped playing, "Evening sir, what can we do for you?"

"Does that thing have a standard input jack?" he asked pointing at the amplifier.

Grant looked down at it confused, "Uh I believe so sir but wh-" he cut himself off as Ross drew the item and cord from his pocket; recognition on his face. He nodded eagerly as he quietly motioned for the girls to move while he unplugged the amp and moved it near the colonel and plugged the commander's mp3 player in; cranking the volume to 11. "You sure this is a good idea sir?" he whispered to him. The girls looked at him and the player curiously; they wondered what was going to happen.

"We'll see in a second I guess," Ross whispered back as he found the song he wanted. Motioning for everyone to get back he placed the mp3 player down, fast-forwarded some, and hit play.

"…_**I GET KNOCKED DOWN BUT I GET BACK UP AGAIN…"**_

As "Tubthumping" blared through the bay, Vought yelped as he sprang awake and promptly fell out of the chair landing flat on his back. He lay there groaning, as everyone in the hanger broke out laughing with Francesca, Erica, and Foss falling on the floor; laughing their asses off. Even the crew joined in as the technicians and soldiers dropped what they were doing to join in. Everybody continued laughing till the end of the song; most of them in tears by that time. When it was finally over, Preddy walked over and helped Vought back to his feet, "Thanks Jean," he groaned as he got up.

"No problem sir," she stated back; she was still giggling as she tried to hide her red face.

He looked at the assembled group as he tried to identify the culprit. Finally noticing whose mp3 player it was he growled, "Ross…" As the commander in question straightened up and tried to look innocent, Vought reached for the player as he began searching for a song.

"Yes sir, do you need something?" He stated with a straight face; the girls and crew snorting as they tried to contain their laughter.

The amp roared to life again as Vought found what he was looking for. Rubbing the back of his sore head as he watched the commander recognize the song playing, "_Oh shit I'm dead."_

Ross began to twitch nervously as the song played; desperately trying to find an avenue of escape.

"…_**RUN TO THE HILLS… RUN FOR YOUR LIVES…"**_

Ross finally lost it when Vought drew the particle magnum and placed it on the workbench. He promptly excused himself as he fast walked to the door; the crew immediately going back to work as the colonel stopped the song.

Looking at the pale expression on Grant's face he spoke, "I'm going to assume you were following orders correct captain?"

Grant nodded animatedly, "Yes sir, the commander made me do it." He looked at Shirley, "isn't that right Yeager?"

Staring at the unamused expression on his face she gulped as she answered, "uh yes sir, it's all true."

Vought stared at them before relenting, "Fine I'll kick his ass later."

He sat back in the chair as he rubbed the back of his head; he could feel a decent sized lump, "_Damn that hurt."_ As he sat there trying to alleviate his pain Yoshika walked up to him as she activated her powers.

"Can I heal you sir, please?"

Grant and Vought were curious about this; they had only seen limited magic usage from the girls; most notably their shields and Eila's ability to dodge attacks.

"Uh sure… go ahead," he responded slowly. He removed his hand as she walked up to him and placed her hands over the lump. A bright blue glow formed around the two as she healed his injury. A few seconds later the glow subsided and she stepped back, dismissing her familiar. "There you go sir, good as new."

Vought blinked a few times as he felt the back of his head, "Thanks Miyafuji; that was an interesting experience."

She beamed, "No problem sir, I like helping people the best I can."

Geena looked curiously at the mp3 player as she picked it up; some of the others crowed around as they looked at the small screen. "What's this sir?"

"It's a MP3 player; it plays music and video files stored in an mp3 format." He stated as he reached for the device; she handed it to him. "And judging by the looks of it Ross has quite a lot of music stored on it. Jeez he has more songs than I can think of on it; he must have spent a fortune on music."

The girls all stared at the tiny device in amazement. "Can you play another song with it sir," asked Foss?

Vought shrugged; "Sure," he began to search through the player till he found something he thought they'd like. Hitting play "Everybody Talks" began to echo through the bay.

The girls listened in interest to the song. Once finished they were silent for a minute before someone spoke, "Does it have any songs sung by a woman?" asked Harris.

Vought nodded, "I thought you'd ask that," he hit the start button playing the next song, "Call Me Maybe."

Everyone in the hanger listen as Carly Rae Jepsen began singing her most well-known song. Glancing around the hanger Yoshika noticed movement coming from the opposite corner, "Hey what are they doing?" she asked over the song as she pointed. Vought and the girls turned to see what she was talking about; Grant and Vought facepalmed; some of the men in the corner were synchronized dancing to the song. "Ignore them they're being idiots." He blinked finally realizing something, "Hang on what are you all doing in here?"

The witches looked at each other before Erica answered, "We got bored; you guys are too good at keeping the Neuroi away."

"…Fair enough but why in _here_?"

Preddy answered, "Because you were in here, we thought you'd teach us something cool. When we found out you were asleep so they wanted to stay and mess around."

At this declaration Grant looked away and began whistling as he packed up his stuff. Vought groaned as he leaned back, closed his eyes and rubbed his face; the girls gathered around and stared at him as Grant tiptoed away.

He opened his eyes and nearly fell out of the chair again. "What?"

"We're bored and you just scared our entertainment away," responded Shirley.

He looked around only to find Grant out the door leaving him alone with the witches. He sighed, "Fine what would you like to know."

The girls looked at each other; no one knew what to say. Harris looked up, "Could you tell us about the ship sir? I mean why is it called what it is." Everyone nodded enthusiastically at this; they wanted to know as well.

He nodded; it was an interesting story. "Alright then take a seat; this might take a while." They sat on the deck and workbench as he leaned forward.

"So as I have said before this is a Lantean _Aurora_-class battleship and she is over 10,000 years old; not even we know exactly how old. From what we've managed to gather, she is the first of her class."

The girls' eyes widened as they looked around at the bright interior of the bay they were in; this was impressive information indeed.

He smiled as he watched their faces, "Anyway six months ago; while exploring a demolished Lantean shipyard, we found a massive door hidden under the debris of an unfinished ship. It took us days to clear away the hull but when we did we noticed the dimensions of the door matched that of an _Aurora_. Forced to hotwire the door, since the controls had been destroyed, we managed to partially open it and were able to rappel down inside. Eventually we got a generator down there and got the lights functioning again and what they lit up stunned us. We found another full sized _Aurora-_class."

Hartmann tilted her head, "What do you mean full sized."

He blinked; he forgot they knew nothing about the Ancients, "Oh right so the Ancients built about three different variants of this type of battleship. Why you ask? We have no clue; they won't tell us."

Everyone blinked when he said this, "_Shit I hadn't meant to let that slip."_

"I thought you said the Ancients had died?"

Too late, "Well you see… they kind of… I don't know how to put this really; they ascended to a higher plane of existence and they tend to interact with us from time to time. Some members of the SGC have done this."

He sat there with a cheesy grin on his face as he waited for their response, "WHAT?!"

He shook his head, "Another time maybe, that is another very long and very confusing conversation. Anyway this ship is one of the original 40 largest. Just looking at the ship we realized there were differences between this one and the others we had seen. For one it was a darker coloration than the others and it seemed… more angular compared to the others. The number of defensive turrets was another reason we knew she was different; she had at least twice the number of weapons the _Aurora_ had. Getting inside we realized her heart still beat as lights began to flicker back to life. We explored the ship finding numerous systems tacked on and added as if an afterthought. Most Lantean warships are beautiful to look at; nothing but pure purpose. This ship looked like somebody had tacked her together out of spare parts; she matched but she just didn't look streamlined. We split up once inside; Dr. Rodney McKay, our top Ancient technology scientist, headed to the engineering spaces to see how much juice we had left while myself and another colonel headed to the bridge."

"When we made it to the bridge, myself and Col. John Sheppard flipped a coin to see who would try to activate the ship with the control chair. I won the coin toss and sat down as McKay radioed we could try to start her up. Crossing our fingers I activated the chair bringing the old ship back to life once again. I got out of the chair and walked around the bridge with Sheppard as the systems came back online." He smirked as he remembered the next part, "After a few minutes of startup McKay entered and tried to access a console to check the engines integrity; the last one we had found functioned but she had nearly zero power left and her engines didn't work. Touching the console a burst of light filled the bridge as a woman appeared in front of us. McKay nearly wet himself when she did; he screamed like a little girl it was great." He grinned as he remembered the event in detail, "Anyway after introducing ourselves, we learned her name was Serenity and she was the ships AI."

"What's an AI?"

"An Artificial Intelligence; an intelligent computer; she can think for herself and can control various portions of the ship." He waited for this info to settle in.

Von Bonin blinked, a lot, "A computer… that can think? Isn't that dangerous?"

He shook his head, "Kinda sorta; we have run into intelligent machines that have attempted to kill us numerous times," he ignored the horrified stares he was getting. "Anyway she told us she was added to the ship to monitor and control the ships systems; to make sure they worked in sync because the ship was a testbed for the _Aurora-_class and not all the systems liked to work together. She explained as much as we needed before she turned herself off to conserve power."

Barkhorn looked around, "Can we meet her?"

"Sorry but not right now; she's offline for the same reason we can't use our primary weapons. We need to replace the crystals before you can meet her."

"Oh"

"Don't worry you guys will meet her soon. Anyway where was I?"

"You said Serenity turned herself off to conserve power," responded Geena.

"Ah right thanks Jean, so she shut herself off to conserve power. About a week later we returned to the ship with enough generators to get her airborne and back into space. Once in space we realized she had never been named and were trying to figure out what to call her. It was at this same time we realized she had a cloak because she vanished from view causing the _Daedalus _to begin freaking out. The ship's cloak works fine; when activated. When deactivated the cloak will randomly turn itself on and off. Another thing we noticed was that the defense turrets would begin tracking targets that didn't exist; they wouldn't shoot but they would move around. Lights in various portions of the ship would begin flickering in weird patterns; it was really quite strange. One of the scientists happened to realize it resembled something he knew and decided to name the ship after one from a game."

"A game?"

He smirked as he realized how well the ship was living up to it's name, "Well the ship in the game was testing a teleportation system," he stopped as Foss smirked; he shook his head as he continued, "When they first connected the ship's power, it teleported away; along with half of it's dry-dock. They never found the ship," "_Stupid Half-life 3; why you never come out?"_

"Uh anyway," he began, "We eventually got the ship back to Earth where Dr. McKay installed his new power system to test and six months later, here we are," he flourished as he finished.

The girls clapped as he got up and bowed to them; as he stood back up he noticed Mio standing in the doorway with Marseille right behind her, "Ah Maj. Sakamoto, what can I do for you this evening?"

The girls all turned to the major with the 501st getting up, "Sorry to interrupt sir but the 501st is needed for dinner," she looked right at Miyafuji, "and training before said dinner." The girl in question groaned before going stiff as the major asked her what that groan was. Hannah entered the hanger and joined the remaining witches as the 501st headed back to the base, "See ya sir" Shirley stated as she waved over her shoulder. Marseille entered the hanger and joined the colonel's witches as he sat back down, "Can I help you captain?"

She shrugged, "Who knows sir, I'm bored what are you guys up to?"

"Shouldn't you be guarding Lt. Hartmann like you were ordered?"

"Relax Hanna she'll be fine for an hour or so; I wanted to see what you guys are up to."

The witches frowned at this; Hannah was being way too relaxed. They didn't care for her lackadaisical attitude towards everyone; including her superiors.

Huberta turned to Vought, "Sir I wish to apologize for her disregard for respect. Please don't think this is how all witches really are."

Everyone nodded as they glared at the captain; who was currently ignoring them as she studied some covered vehicles in the back of the hanger. "Hey what are these?" she asked as she reached to grab the cover. Two men clearing their throats and the sound of safeties clicking off caused her to stop. Glancing to her left and right she found two men dressed in fatigues and armed powerful looking metal and wood rifles, beckoning her to back up away from them. "Relax guys I just want to see what's under here," see grabbed the cover and pulled causing the cover to fall off and the men to walk forward with their weapons aimed at her. "Sorry boys I don't understand Orussian. Now what are these pretty things?"

Hearing somebody yelling at them to stand down in Russian, Hannah turned around and watched as Vought stormed over to her and ripped the cover from her hands. "Do you think there was a reason we kept these covered?"

She huffed, "Geez sir just trying to have some fun over here. So what's so special about these?" She indicated the vehicles as another officer walked in.

"Здравствуйте сэр, what seems to be the problem here?" Maj. Volkov asked as he viewed the scene.

He gestured to the cover in his hand and the witches that had gathered around to stare at the uncovered vehicle. Volkov nodded in understanding.

"Go ahead my friend, be my guest," he stated as he beckoned Volkov forward. Vought stepped back as he planned his next conversation with Adolfine about her choice in guards.

Alexei cleared his throat as he walked towards the vehicle, "Здравствуйте, um hello; as most of you know I am Maj. Alexei Volkov of the 4th Guard Tank Brigade of the Russian Federation. What you see before you is the pride of the Russian Ground Forces, the T-90U-1 Main Battle Tank."

The mint-green colored tank sat there in the bright lights of the bay; its angular surfaces and large gun making it look lethal.

"Main Battle Tank, what's that?"

Volkov smiled as he looked at Barkhorn, "да, main battle tank; after WWII most of the world determined that the time for the heavy tank and medium tank had ended. More powerful guns and projectiles negated heavy armor so the MBT was created by combining the gun from a heavy tank with the maneuverability and size of a medium tank. The first extreme example of this was the German Leopard 1. The Леопард had basically zero armor but was extremely fast."

The Karlslandic witches blinked at this declaration. After the heavily armored Tiger and Tiger II, this was very different.

"The tank was very quick and could accurately fire while on the move. Of course our first MBT worked well as well, the T-62. Eventually MBTs evolved to where they are today with the T-90 being at the top." He stated proudly as Vought rolled his eyes.

"So the –U must be a variant then? What is different between this and the others?" Geena asked.

Volkov smiled; she was sharp, "Indeed it is different, the T-90U-1 is equipped with third generation Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) and," he looked at Vought's curious face, "Арена."

Vought's expression grew in surprise as he looked at the tank. "I thought you guys only put Arena on the T-80s and a few BMPs?"

Alexei smirked, "да it is true; however we have experimented on this model, and a few others."

The two officers stared at each other while the witches watched; amused. Galina frowned; she had never heard of something called Arena before, "What is Арена, товарищ майо́р?"

The two males broke their stare as they turned to her, "Arena is an active protection system. It can identify, target, and destroy incoming projectiles heading towards it."

The girls stared in awe at the tank, a vehicle that could defend itself from attack; that was indeed a feat of engineering. Looking next to it Foss noticed another one and one behind it, "So you have three of these then?"

Volkov hesitated before nodding and answering, "да."

Frowning at Alexei's hesitation, Chris checked his watch, "Alright then ladies, that about wraps it up let's head to dinner, I'm hungry."

With this said Volkov led the witches from the room with Geena and Vought staying behind to help the soldiers re-cover the tank. Watching the colonel, interact with his men and the witch, brought a smile to his face. His friend was indeed a good man.

_**August 28, 1945 2200 Hours- Borealis CO Quarters**_

Chris lay on his bed as he reviewed the worrisome reports from Sokolov's man and from around the ship. Various secure areas had been breached; but nothing had been damaged, altered, or removed. Propulsion, power, weapon storage, computer core, it had all been accessed but nothing was wrong with any of them. This was what was worrying; the only reason someone would do that was if they were planning to raid something. Another issue he had was the member of the observation team that had been seen in various restricted areas of the ship. He frowned as he tried to think of why someone would want to potentially harm the alliance.

He looked at the photos that had been taken by the yet-to-be seen Spetsnaz operative who was a little too good at his job, "…_They just had to be FSB didn't they… I really hope these guys don't turn on us or we're screwed."_

He sighed as he put down the reports and turned off the lights. Just what was going to happen?

_**August 31, 1945 1000 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Runway**_

"So we good then?"

Ursula nodded, "Indeed you are sir; at least according to me and my people. Give it another week for command to review and then you can help us wipe out the Neuroi." She finished with an excited smile.

The _Borealis _officers grinned; it was almost time to kick some serious ass.

"Thank you lieutenant for all your help; I hope we gave you some useful information," Vought stated as he helped her load the plane.

"I believe so sir, I haven't looked through all of it yet but it looks like it will help immensely. I-we can't thank you enough; you've done so much and will do so much more and we can't give you anything in return."

Chris shook his head, "You have helped us greatly and are still. Don't worry we will help end this threat once and for all."

At this passionate declaration, the witches swarmed the unprepared colonel as they knocked him flat. Surprised the other officers took a step back and chuckled as all except Heinrike and Hannah, attempted to squeeze the life out of him. Finally relenting, they helped him stand back up as he wheezed glaring at all of them; clearly amused.

"Anyway," he continued his glare, "We hope you have a pleasant trip back. Give the Vice Marshall our hello."

Ursula nodded again as Erica stopped hugging her, "Will do sir and good luck." With that final note, her and Marseille boarded the plane and the closed the door. Once it's escorts left, the tri-engine Karlslandic transport left the ground. Watching the planes pass once over they base, they formed up and flew off into the distance. Turning back to the assembled men and women he spoke.

"Alright ladies and gents let's get this show on the road. Get the 302s prepped and the ship ready for combat."

A chorus of "yes sirs," hit him as they began to burst into action, "Ross get a handful of Jumpers airborne and start finding us targets." Ross nodded as he too left. Vought turned to the witches, "Minna I don't need to tell you anything you don't already know. Prep your girls and let us crush these buggers into dust."

Minna smiled as she responded, "Yes sir." She turned to Mio, "Major, if you would please?"

Mio nodded, "Alright all of you; time to train! Miyafuji, Bishop, Clostermann, you three start running; 10 laps of the base should work for a start. Everyone else, exercise for 3 hours and then we start aerial training. Move it!" She punctuated this final order with a bang of her training sword on the ground. As the 501st burst into action Vought turned back to his group of witches, "Foss, do what you need. You have access to anything you may need or want from the ship."

Joe nodded, "Alright all of you grab your weapons; we're headed to the range." As the ship's witches left the area, Vought turned to Vitaly and Alexei.

"Alright товарищи, we need to make a move on our little guest soon. Vitaly if your man finds him tonight, he is to take him down; alive if at all possible."

He nodded, "Understood Chris; I will let him know." He left leaving him and Volkov.

"What do you wish for me to do Крис?"

Vought sighed as he looked to his friend. "Do you remember Afghanistan?"

"да"

"Just like back then, be careful мой друг."

He nodded, "I will, Пожалуйста. You be careful too." With that he left leaving Vought with his thoughts.

He turned to his ship, "_Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war._"

_**August 31, 1945 1200 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Gun Range**_

The sharp crack and rattle of automatic weapons fire filled the air as men and women from both realities honed their skills with their weapons. 1st Lt. Alex Nemes dropped his spent mag as he slapped a new one in and resumed his firing. Emptying the magazine he put his P90 down as he observed his target. "Nice shooting lieutenant."

He turned around to find the ship's compliment of witches nodding at his target, "Thanks ma'am but that's nothing."

Lt. Col. Foss shrugged, "whatever you say Nemes; still looked good though. You need to let me shoot that thing when I'm done with mine." She patted the cut down M2 20mm cannon on her shoulder.

Nemes shook his head in amazement, the weapons these small girls could carry into combat was insane. He watched as each picked a lane and laid down their weapons; Kostilev had a 12.7mm UBS machinegun, Harris had a .30 cal M1919A6 machinegun, Preddy had an M2 Browning .50 cal machinegun, von Bonin had an MG34, the youngest Sayn-Wittgenstein, had an enormous modified 20mm MG151/20 cannon, but the one that stunned him and the others around him was Rudel. She carried a massive, full-sized BK 37, 37mm anti-tank cannon. Dropping it on the steel loading table, the ground shook with the impact.

"A twenty not enough for you ma'am?" he asked sarcastically.

She smiled as she shook her head, "Not at all lieutenant, if my striker could handle it I'd be carrying the BK 5."

He blinked, "The airborne 50mm cannon?"

She nodded, "The very same."

He beckoned them forward, "Go right ahead then ladies," they smiled at him as they loaded and moved into position. Noticing the Russian soldiers still staring he yelled to them, "What are you guys looking at, let them practice." The soldiers shrugged as they reloaded their -47s and -94s and resumed shooting.

Nemes sat back and watched as the ladies activated their magic, and began firing. The booming report of the 37mm caused the men to stop and stare. Watching them continue to shoot, he thought of something, "_I hope these people stay friendly with each other because these women would be lethal in conventional war; who needs tactical nukes when you have them…"_

_**September 2, 1945 0004 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Runway**_

For the first time since making it to this reality, Vought had not gone to the runway alone. The past few nights, Maj. Preddy and recently Maj. Sayn- Wittgenstein had begun going with him to learn more about him and his reality. When Heinrike was asked why she chose to not go on the night patrols anymore, her response had been that there wasn't enough action for her immense skill; being nocturnal like all night witches, she still grew bored and decided to tag along.

Taking his usual spot, he sat down as he poured himself and the other two some iced-tea; he didn't want to be accused of getting the witches drunk now would he? Passing the two their glasses he sat back and stared at the stars; his ship lit up as men worked the graveyard shift getting her ready for their go ahead for combat.

Watching the colonel stare calmly up into the cloudless night sky, Heinrike rubbed her knees nervously before she asked a question. "Sir…" she met his blank stare causing her to stare at the ground; going red in the face. "Chris, why are you so fascinated by the stars; don't you explore them all the time?"

Geena looked at him as he dropped his gaze and thought. He turned to them, "I've told Jean before. I've always been fascinated by space; ever since I was a kid." He looked up again, "I always believed that we weren't the only intelligent life in the universe and I wanted to explore. I had always planned on being an astronaut; maybe going to Mars and exploring deep space and all that kind of stuff." He smiled, "There was a TV show I always used to watch, "Star Trek," and while I knew that it would never be like that, it was still fun to pretend. I had learned that the best way to become an astronaut was to join the military so I applied for the Air Force Academy and graduated to become an officer."

He dropped his gaze again, "Turns out I was too tall to safely fly so I had to do something else. I was recommended by an officer to become a Combat Controller since they got to parachute a lot; I took him up on the offer and became a member of CCT. Four years later I found myself a Lt. Col. and was being asked to meet with a man named General Landry. He told me about the Stargate and here I am." He finished with his hands out; a smile on his face. The two witches laughed at the goofy expression on his face, "I hope that answers your question…Princess."

Heinrike gave him a horrified look as Geena covered her mouth to stop her snort. She wished she had a camera to capture this moment. Before the frazzled major could retaliate, Vought's radio squawked.

"Crosshair here, go ahead."

"_**Sir an unidentified radar contact just appeared from behind a transport. They are inbound, they were not scheduled, and they are ignoring us."**_

"Why didn't the ship detect it?"

"_**Sensors went offline a few min-"**_

The transmission was cut as the ship went dark and an explosion rocked the base.

**And so the fun begins; hopefully this chapter answers a few more questions and creates a few more. Sorry for the lack of action everyone, I've been leading up to something; I hope it works out well. Anyway I don't have much else; keep up the reviews guys. Thanks for the suggestions; some of them might be seen later in the story, who knows? See ya later readers, Ghostrider21 signing off.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: 1 Minute to Midnight **

**Hey guys I'm back yet again with an exciting chapter. This is going to be where shit hits the fan so please, sit back and enjoy. Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming. I am taking everything you guys give me under advisement; just stay patient because you may be surprised later. Anyway same old same old, I do not own anything but my OCs and story, everything else belongs to their respective owners.**

_**Previously**_

_Heinrike gave him a horrified look as Geena covered her mouth to stop her snort. She wished she had a camera to capture this moment. Before the frazzled lieutenant could retaliate, Vought's radio squawked._

"_Crosshair here, go ahead."_

"_**Sir an unidentified radar contact just appeared from behind a transport. They are inbound, they were not scheduled, and they are ignoring us."**_

"_Why didn't the ship detect it?"_

"_**Sensors went offline a few min-"**_

_The transmission was cut as the ship went dark and an explosion rocked the base._

_**September 2, 1945 0010 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Runway**_

"SHIT… Girls with me; neither of you are armed are you?" Vought cursed as he jumped up, sidearm drawn.

They shook their heads as yells could be heard in the distance; the fire burning in the background.

"Alright stay close, Heinrike can you get a signal from anywhere?"

She shook her head as her familiar appeared and her antenna formed above her head, "Nothing sir; I'm only getting static.

He nodded, "Alright come on, we need to get to the SAM."

_Same Time, 5 miles out_

The three C-47 transports dove to the runway as fast as they could; the troops in the back hanging onto whatever they could. A familiar man stood by the door of the first aircraft. "All right guys, here's what we got," Wells yelled over the roar of the engines. "Our mutual friend has distracted the ship's crew and has opened a path for us to get into the ship. As soon as we touchdown Groups one and two will move towards their entry points. Group 3 will be the distraction and Group 4 will protect the planes." He looked at the men in the red glow of the battle lamps, "These men are well trained and will not hesitate to kill you on sight so do everything in your power to defend yourselves. Remember your objectives and let's get out of here quickly."

"What about the witches' sir?" one of the men asked over the engines.

"Collateral damage," he responded. The men yelled their confirmations as Wells sat back down; jostled as the plane dove towards the ground. He glanced at the picture in his hand, "_I must complete my objective"_

_**September 2, 1945 0015 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW **_

Vought and company reached the fire as it slowly burned itself out; the girls stared at the devastation. "What happened…" whispered Preddy.

Vought looked at the scene as he tried to piece together what had happened. It seemed as if one of the reloads for the SAM battery had exploded; destroying the berm they had built around it. Noticing one of his men being treated by a medic, he jogged over, "Nemes what happened?"

1st Lt. Alex Nemes shook his head and pushed the Russian medic away as he held the bandage to his head, "No idea sir, I was on patrol with two others when we heard someone yell. We ran over here to what had happened and the next thing I knew, I'm upside down in that tree over there; bleeding and dazed." He pointed at a tree near the edge of the clearing, 20 ft. away.

Vought turned to the two, "Can either of you two help him?"

They shook their heads, "No… sorry Chris, we're not medical witches like Miyafuji. We can only heal ourselves, limitedly and that's it." Preddy responded.

"Where's your men Nemes?"

He pointed to his right where two men lay unconscious. "They got hit by debris and were badly injured; they both passed out a little while ago."

He turned to the medic and began speaking to him in Russian. Heinrike turned to Nemes, "Are you alright?"

Nemes shook his head, "Nope not at all," he winced, "Think I might have broken something, or a few somethings."

"Sorry we can't help lieutenant, hopefully Sgt. Miyafuji will get here soon," Geena stated sadly.

"It's cool don't worry about it," he winced as he turned to look at the angry expression on Vought's face as he finished speaking with the medic.

"The two guards for the missiles are dead; they were killed in the explosion. Two more are in serious condition."

The two girls gasped as Nemes sighed; they couldn't catch a break.

He looked to his man, "Think you can defend yourself lieutenant?"

Nemes grinned and coughed as he pulled his sidearm free, "They'd have to pry this from my cold dead hands sir, Go see what's up; I'll hold down this area."

Vought grinned at this and turned to the medic telling him to get some more people over here, "Good luck Nemes, we'll send the 501st here as soon as possible."

With that, he left with the two witches in tow, his destination; the darkened ship. Over the trees, the three C-47s landed and began disgorging their cargo.

_5 Minutes Later_

"All right we should be there any second n-," Vought froze as he heard the sound of a pistol safety being disengaged. He slowly turned and found Maj. Sayn- Wittgenstein being held captive by a Britannian soldier; with a pistol to her head. "Throw your weapons on the ground now or the witch gets it."

"I-I'm unarmed, please don't shoot," Preddy quietly asked as she put her hands up.

He looked at Vought as he stepped closer to the major, "You too buddy."

Vought stepped slightly in front on Preddy, "Fine but please, don't hurt her." Heinrike, despite her tough act and being a soldier for years, was still a 17 year old girl and she was beside herself. Only the reassuring look on the colonel's face was able to prevent her from crying out loud.

Vought tossed the particle magnum on the ground near the soldier; a plane could be heard flying over. "There now please, let her go; I'm the CO of the ship. Take me hostage instead." He took another step forward.

Preddy was trying not to panic but things were looking bad and she was having a tough time trying to find a way out of their situation. She watched as Vought winked at her as he took a step forward. Looking at him partially in front of her, she realized what he was trying to set up; he had his other sidearm tucked into the back of his belt and within her reach. She looked at the weapon, trying to judge her distance; now she just needed a window.

The soldier scoffed as he shoved his hostage to the ground and aimed his weapon at the colonel. "Huh if that's so then I can finish this quickly." He beckoned with his weapon and Vought took another step forward. As the soldier looked away from her, Geena reached for the pistol. "Come on I don't have all ni-"

The soldier's complaint was abruptly ended with a loud 'CRACK' as a darkened figure fell from the sky and promptly crushed the soldier into the dirt; killing him instantly. "Hope you guys don't mind me dropping in for a bit," the figure joked as they got off the dead man.

Geena and Chris blinked at this unexpected turn of events. "Cap-Capt. Marseille?" Heinrike stuttered out as she identified the figure.

"Hannah!?" The other two asked in unison.

Capt. Marseille smirked as she stretched and dismissed her familiar, "That's my name don't wear it out." She looked at the three of them; concern on her face, "You guys ok?"

Vought blinked as he remembered the situation, "I think so… oh shit Heinrike!" He spun only to be tackled by the witch in question. Her tail twitched about frantically as she sobbed into his chest with a death grip. He pat her on the back as he tried to console the terrified witch. No one said anything as Marseille retrieved the colonel's weapon and handed it back to him. Eventually her sobbing stopped and she pulled away from him; her eyes red as she sniffed, "Thanks… Chris."

He smiled as he pat her on the head, "No problem Princess, anything for you."

Geena and Hannah cracked a smile despite the serious situation as Heinrike went red in the face once again. Vought turned to Hannah, "Thanks for the save captain but what are you doing here?"

She shrugged, "No problem sir; my gut told me something was off today and I was still waiting for my ride back to Africa so I found someone willing to do a fly over."

He frowned, "Well come on then we got to get moving," he stopped as he looked back at the young major; she was still shaking. He turned to Marseille, "Hannah, take Heinrike back to the SAM, she is in no condition to fight."

Heinrike calmed a bit at this, "But Chris…"

He shook his head, "Sorry major but that's an order." He turned to Marseille, "If you see Minna tell her we have a situation on the ship and I have Maj. Preddy with me."

She nodded, "Understood sir," She grabbed Heinrike and began walking towards the fire. She stopped and turned around, "and good luck."

Vought nodded as he turned to Preddy, "Keep it," he indicated his Five-Seven, "and come on." She nodded as the two of them went double time to the ship.

_**September 2, 1945 0021 Hours- Borealis Command Deck**_

Vought peered down the darkened corridor as he and Preddy made their way to his quarters. Geena looked around, "Where is everybody?"

Vought tried his radio again getting nothing but static, "It seems most of them are down in engineering trying to get the systems back online or dealing with the injured and the soldiers." He frowned, "_Or dead," _the image of the unknown Goa'uld in his mind; he shook his head, "Damn I wish we had a flashlight about now; whatever killed the power killed the emergency lights as well."

Preddy shook her head before stopping, "Wait, I've got an idea." Vought turned to her as she began to glow; the feathers of a goshawk sprouting from her head and lower back. "My magic is called Hawkeye; it allows me to see long distances and gives me the ability to track moving targets, even in low light." Her eyes glowed a muted blue, "I can lead the way if that's alright."

He beckoned her forward, "Lead the way."

_Vought's Quarters_

Vought activated his computer as he entered, throwing light through the room. Geena stood guard at the door while he made his way to his safe in the back.

"Alright here's the plan," he opened the safe and began pulling weapons out. "You and I are going to arm up and head towards the bays and meet up with whomever is there," He slung a rifle over his shoulder as he closed the safe. He handed her another rifle as he quickly showed her how to use it, "Once we meet up we are going to head to the runway and deal with whoever has landed; you good?"

She nodded.

"Then let's move it."

_**September 2, 1945 0010 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Base**_

Minna stood at her window thinking about how the world would be once Chris and the others helped eliminate the Neuroi once and for all. Her thoughts drifted to his history lesson and the horrors that took place in his reality; wondering if that would be them once their common enemy was gone. She shook her head; no, even if she was ordered to she would never take the life of another witch like that. As she turned to go back to bed, the ship going dark caught her eye, "_Huh, wonder why they turned their lights off maybe I sh-"_

Her thoughts were cut short as a bloom of fire and roar of an explosion shook the base and her window. She stumbled back, "What in the world… the girls!" She spun around and ran to the door. "MIO! WAKE THE WITCHES!"

_5 Minutes Later_

"Alright, here's what we know, 5 minutes ago an explosion happened near the _Borealis' _anti-aircraft battery," Minna stated to the assembled witches and their support teams. "We have lost contact with the ship when it went dark and three unknown aircraft are about to land on our runway." She turned to the soldiers, "You men are to secure the runway and to assist the colonel's men if they contact you. Do NOT fire until fired upon; if a witch comes under attack you are to retaliate as well. Go." With her speech finished the hanger doors opened allowing the drone of the approaching aircraft to enter. She picked up her MG42 and a reload as she led the witches to the ship.

_**September 2, 1945 0012 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Runway**_

The Romagniana soldiers assigned to the 501st waited at the edge of the runway as the three Liberion transports rolled to a stop. Stepping out from the ruins near the edge a captain walked out motioning for the planes to cut their engines. Hearing the engines cut out, he turned to yell to his men to move up when the door of the first transport opened. His men watched as a burst of fire from the plane stitched him from hip to shoulder; dropping him were he stood. As he fell, men emerged from each plane and began throwing walls of lead into the defenders' positions as they grouped up and moved out. The battle for the base had officially begun.

_501__st_

The witches stopped as they heard gunfire and screams erupt from the runway; Yoshika nearly dropped her weapon as she covered her hears. "_Damn this is bad, what the hell is going on? Where are the colonel's men?" _Minna thought desperately as she helped the young sergeant forward. Looking to her right, the column of smoke from the explosion was still visible, "Come on ladies; let's see what is happening at our base."

_SA-21 "Archer"_

The witches slowly approached the perimeter of the reload storage for the SAM; stopping as men dressed in black emerged from the shadows, "Стоп!" they yelled as they took aim at them. Minna and Gertrude put up their shields as they prepared to block the barrage. As they braced, another voice yelled out, "Подождите! Wait they are friendlies! Commander, what are you ladies doing out here?" Maj. Volkov stated as he emerged from behind the soldiers while they lowered their weapons; the witches lowered their shields as well. "Major, what in the world is happening on my base?"

"Unknown ma'am, we are currently trying to determine what happened to the here as well as the ship. We relayed the aircrafts identification to the ship just as we lost contact. Лучник was about to engage the inbounds when the explosion severed the power cables; the battery is dead until we can get replacements from the ship." He spied Miyafuji, "Cержант Miyafuji please come quickly; we have men in critical condition." He looked to Minna as the witches rushed to follow him, "We already have two dead and four are close to death."

The girls gasped, sure they had seen death before but Neuroi beams left clean wounds or completely vaporized what they hit. They never had to deal with bullet or shrapnel wounds before. Going around the edge of the berm, the girls saw the destruction caused by the explosion and the injured men in the clearing. Yoshika rushed forward with Lyn as Minna and Mio ran up to the injured lieutenant.

Lt. Nemes looked up and cracked a smile as he winced and sat up straighter, "Well look who the cavalry brought in." He coughed once; some blood coming out as we wiped his mouth, "Sorry for the mess ma'am, I think I may have dropped my lighter."

Minna frowned at his condition and his crude attempt at a joke, "What happened lieutenant? Where's Chris?"

"Unknown ma'am and as for the colonel…" he coughed again as Yoshika began to heal him. "Last I saw of him he was heading to the ship with Maj. Preddy and Maj. Sayn- Wittgenstein." His eyes began to drop as the adrenaline finally wore off, "He is going…to need… help…" He finally passed out; a content look on his face as Miyafuji finished healing him.

A rustle in the bushes caused everyone to aim their weapons as two figures emerged from the brush. "Hannah? Heinrike?" Minna asked in astonishment as they approached; everyone lowering their weapons upon identification.

Hannah smiled as she led the shocked major to her, "Hey commander, long time no see huh?" She frowned as she looked to the young night witch, "Heinrike here has had a slightly traumatic experience; the colonel requested I bring her here and that I tell you he was headed to ship in case I ran into you. She is really shaken up; someone from those planes held a gun to her head."

Francesca ran and hugged the poor witch tightly as Yoshika and Lynette ran up to check on her. Minna frowned, "When did you…"

"I jumped from a passing plane and crushed the guy; he was going to shoot the colonel or her so I had to do it."

Barkhorn walked up, "This isn't like you Marseille; what happened?"

Hannah shrugged, "Something told me I needed to be here; besides I couldn't let you guys have all the fun could I?"

Minna turned to Alexei, "Major, can we leave some witches here with you?"

He nodded, "да, we will protect them with our lives. We will also send some men to the runway; it sounds like your men need some help." The sound of a grenade going off punctuated the statement.

Minna nodded, "Miyafuji, Bishop, Clostermann, Litvyak, and Lucchini; you will remain here with Sayn- Wittgenstein and Maj. Volkov." Gertrude handed Hannah one of her MG42s as the others checked their weapons; Mio drew her sword. "We're moving out; Major, try to not let those aircraft leave."

He nodded as the she and the remaining witches ran off towards the ship; things were heating up.

_**September 2, 1945 0022 Hours- Borealis ZPG**_

Men in black cleared the hallways as they made their way silently through the darkened ship; NVGs on as they made their way to the power systems. Sokolov held his fist up as he dropped into a crouch near the door to the ZPG and checked the vitals of one of the two guards, "_Dead… but no marks."_ He thought to himself as he checked over both of them. He waved his men forward as they entered and began to clear the room. Finding it clear, he brought a body armored and escorted Dr. Lansby into the room.

"Well doctor the room is clear. Do you think you can find why the power is out and why our radios are having issues?"

Lansby nodded as he approached the control system and plugged in his computer, "I can, but it's going to take a while. I rush this and we wipe out ourselves, the witches, and everything in this solar system but Pluto. Whoever did this actually shut the ZPG down and that technically should not be possible."

The big Russian sighed, "Do it then; as fast as you safely can. We need this ship online NOW. Where is Vought?" He turned as one of his men entered the room and handed him a message.

Lansby looked up as diagnostics flashed across his screen, "What is it?"

Sokolov frowned as he dropped the paper and grabbed his rifle, "Trouble. We cannot allow those planes to take off."

_**September 2, 1945 0020 Hours- Borealis Drone Storage**_

SGC personnel and US Marines poured fire down the hallway into the invaders as they attempted to leave the ship. When the crew arrived they found the Britannian soldiers leaving through opposite end of the hallway; the Drone storage bay open and the guards on the deck. The men from the planes tried desperately to escape but most were cut down by the NVG wearing crew with their superior training.

"_Well this sucks,"_ thought Sam as he reloaded his M27 and peeked around the corner. The Staff Sergeant and his team had been making their way to secure the Drone storage when they ran into the tail-end of assault teams retreat. They had mowed down the men as the others fired blindly into the darkness trying to hit the defenders; their flashlights having been destroyed or lost. When the fire finally withered to a stop, Arnold and his team moved up to police for survivors. Approaching the guards, he dropped to a crouch as he removed their helmets and checked for a pulse; he felt a heartbeat. Whatever had knocked them out; the Tin Man armor protected them from dying. He called for a medic as teams moved in to secure the Drone bay; blood ran down the hall from the dead attackers. Sam entered the bay as CDR Ross appeared out of nowhere and practically sprinted towards the center of the bay; curious, Arnold followed. Going around one final rack of Drones, Arnold stopped dead as he realized the commander's haste; the ship's nuclear arsenal lay in the glare of the flashlights. Counting them he paled as he realized something, "Oh shit," he blurted out as everyone turned and ran to the door.

_**September 2, 1945 0020 Hours- Jumper Bay 3**_

"So my men have retrieved it but we are losing people at an alarming rate. I don't know how much longer they can hold out. If we are going to get out of here alive, we need to leave NOW," stated Wells nervously as he glanced at his new ally.

The soldier nodded as his eyes flashed yellow, "Indeed sergeant we need to leave now. You did receive word from your boss that I was to accompany you correct?" His distorted voice echoed in the bay as the two of them made their way to the now open door.

Wells nodded, "Of course sir; he told me to allow you access to anything you may need or want. You are to join me on my plane." He stated before hesitating, "Do you mind if I ask your name?"

The soldier stopped and smiled as he looked at the sergeant, "Of course, I am called Parin although my host's name is…"

A 'CRACK' rang out as Wells' head exploded in a pink mist.

"2nd Lt. Nick Jacobs, SGC Armory technician. So tell me Jacobs, did you kill Eric as well or did you just deceive him?"

Parin turned to the ship's interior as Col. Vought and Maj. Preddy stepped into the moonlight shinning in the bay; his SCAR-H aimed directly at his head. He smirked as he stepped over Wells' headless body.

"Ah colonel it's good to see you; I'm glad I ran into you before taking my leave. It would be a shame to leave without saying goodbye," he chuckled in his distorted voice.

"Wh-what are you?" Preddy stuttered out as she nervously aimed at the soldier.

Parin turned to the colonel, "What? You haven't told them of the Goa'uld? I thought you would have told them our history." He turned back to Preddy, "I am a Goa'uld serving under Athena. I am a member of the organization known as the Trust. I am a God and you should bow down before me."

She shook her head, "He told us of your kind and the horrors you committed. I will never bow down before anyone claiming to be a false god," she stated proudly; defiance in her voice.

His eyes flashed again as he frowned, "Pity… it seems you will have to die as well."

Before Parin could react Vought opened up full-auto on him as he advanced.

Preddy watched in amazement as none of the rounds hit him. The alien had raised his hand allowing a gold ribbon like device to be seen as a yellow shield absorbed the colonel's barrage.

"Shit," Vought stated plainly as Parin reached out, grabbed his throat and threw him against the wall.

"CHRIS!" Preddy yelled as she opened fire on the alien; he turned and stared at her as his shield deflected all the hits. She activated her magic hoping she might be able to see a weakness as she reloaded.

"That's enough of that I think," he chuckled as he aimed his hand at her. She put her shield up as an unseen force picked her up and threw her into the opposite wall; hard. Her vision blurred as she attempted to find her weapon. She fell over again too dizzy to stand and watched as the two began to fight.

"Leave. Her. Alone." He grunted as he slugged Parin in the face. The Goa'uld staggered back at the hit and wiped some blood from his lip. Looking at the blood he frowned before turning back to him, "You will pay for that Tau'ri."

He grabbed Vought and slammed his knee into his chest causing a spurt of blood to fly from his mouth. The injured colonel drew his knife and attempted to stab him in the chest. Parin chuckled as he took a step back to dodge the hit. He grabbed the colonel's extended arm, "really colonel? I expected more of you," and he snapped it.

Vought howled in pain as his broken arm hung uselessly at his side. He coughed up more blood as he glared unfocused at the alien. "Is… that all… you got," he coughed out as his vision began to swim, "_Shit I'm in worse shape than I thought_." He glanced at Preddy as she struggled to reload her rifle, "_Have to protect her_." As Parin continued his gloat, he charged him one last time knocking them both to the deck. Using his one good arm he wailed on the alien as he screamed out loud. He got a few good hits in before Parin growled and retaliated. He grabbed the colonel and slammed his fist into Vought's injured chest. Vought's eyes glazed over as blood dribbled from his mouth. Before passing out he mouthed the words 'I'm Sorry' to Geena as his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed on the deck; blood pooling around him.

"CHRIS NOOOO!" she yelled as she finished reloading and opened up on the alien once again; hate in her eyes as she emptied the magazine.

Parin laughed as his Kara Kesh protected him yet again from the storm of bullets headed towards him. Once the witches attack ended and she began to rush towards him; weapon over her head. Right before she reached him, he once again sent her flying into the wall knocking her out cold. He sighed as he reached for his sidearm; charging it as he took aim at the colonel's head, "Such a waste colonel, I was expecting a challenge." His finger reached for the trigger and stopped as a spurt of blood exploded from his chest.

He blinked in amazement and confusion as the weapon fell from his hand. He fell to his knees as another man walked out of the shadows; a silenced pistol in his hand. He watched as the man slowly approached him; he put his hand out in an attempt to protect himself. The man knocked his hand away as he placed the weapon to his head and pulled the trigger.

A muffled pop and a thud were the only sounds in the bay as the Goa'uld fell back dead. His eyes flashed yellow before glazing over. The man fired once more into the alien's chest as he removed the Kara Kesh and moved to check on the injured two. Checking Preddy he found her just unconscious but the colonel was in bad shape; his breathing labored and his pulse failing. He looked up as Sokolov and his team rushed the bay, "He is in bad shape полковник, we need to get him attention now."

Sokolov nodded as medics rushed towards the two injured soldiers. He turned to Gusev, "We need to get to the runway now. We have a situation."

Artyom raised his eyebrow as the colonel explained the situation; his expression darkened. He grabbed and loaded Vought's rifle as he sprinted towards the runway.

_**September 2, 1945 0025 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Runway**_

The fight on the runway was slowly dying out as men on both sides began to run out of ammo. Bodies littered the ruins and the trees as blood pooled everywhere. The number of dead on both sides was piling up. The defenders were eventually bolstered by Maj. Volkov and his men and this helped turned the tides for the 501st and their base.

As Volkov and his men began to push the attackers back, the planes restarted their engines and turned themselves around as more men begin to pour in from the ship. The attackers laid down an impressive covering fire as their men loaded onto the planes and began to taxi.

Volkov cursed and ducked as CDR Ross and troops from the ship went in to cover near him. "Major, we cannot allow these planes to leave."

"да, we will try," he turned to the witches he was protecting, "Ladies we need you to try and get airborne. We will cover your run to the hanger."

With that, Volkov and his men popped from cover and began laying down suppressive fire as the witches with him began running to the hanger. As they left, the planes finished loading and began to increase speed as they started their take-off runs.

"Shit," cursed Ross as he watched them begin to leave, "Stingers NOW!"

Two of the Marines with Ross jumped from cover and dropped to their knees as they sighted in the fleeing transports with their missile launchers. As they fired, a man that had stayed behind uncovered the searchlights at the end of the runway. The heat-seeking missiles lost their lock on the still relatively warm engines of the C-47s and instead locked onto the searing hot signatures of the searchlights; plowing into them and destroying both of them and the man.

"DAMN IT! Reload!"

More men ran up as they struggled to reload the Stingers before the planes left range. A booming report followed quickly by another resulted in the trailing C-47 bursting into flames and falling into the Adriatic. Glancing to where the muzzle flash came from, the men were treated to the sight of Foss and the others aiming at the departing aircraft; Rudel could be seen trying to clear a jam from her smoking BK 37. The roar of a diesel motor appeared as one of the ship's LAV-ADs raced onto the runway. The vehicle came to a stop as the turret began to move with a whine of hydraulics. The vehicle continued to track the planes and fired; with the sound of a buzz saw, the LAV's 25mm chain gun spewed hundreds of rounds downrange, causing the second C-47 to explode in a ball of fire. The vehicle attempted to engage the final plane but it was out of range.

Volkov turned to the commander as he punched the ground in anger, "What is wrong commander? We got two of them."

Ross looked up at him, "We found what their objective was." He explained the situation.

Alexei paled, "…дерьмо."

As he struggled to think of a proper response to the commander's explaination, their radios began squawking again. _**"I think that should do it… Can anyone read me?"**_

Ross grabbed his radio, "Lansby it's good to hear your voice. What happened and can we track this last C-47?"

"_**Uh negative sir, we found a jammer hidden in the ZPG room so all we got right now is radios. It's going to take a while to get the power back on without… vaporizing the planet."**_

Everyone listening to the conversation blinked at this interesting description.

"_**Anyway we have a problem."**_

"What?"

"_**Vought and Preddy are in the infirmary and Vought's in critical condition."**_

Ross and Volkov looked at each other as they and the witches across the runway ran towards the ship.

"_**Miyafuji this is CDR Minna. You are to go straight to the ship as fast as possible. Any crew members that see her please escort her as quickly as you can."**_

"_**Oh no! I'm coming ma'am." **_

"_**Shit, Preddy is injured again?!"**_

"_**Ch-Chris is hurt?"**_

"_**Clear the radios ladies and let's move." **_

_**September 2, 1945 1547 Hours- Borealis Infirmary**_

He groaned as he slowly opened his eyes; staring at the now lit ceiling of the infirmary. He sat like that for a minute as his other senses slowly returned to him, the sound of heart monitors beeping reached his ears. He turned his head as footsteps approached him and a figure threw open the curtain around his bed. Realizing he was awake the figure smiled.

"Well hey their sleeping beauty; finally awake now are we?" Pierce joked as he checked on him.

Vought groaned again as he rolled his eyes, "Doc make sure to shoot me if I ever try to slug a Goa'uld again." He moved to get up causing Pierce to shake his head and put his finger to lips as he motioned to Vought's left.

Curiously Vought turned and froze as he realized what Pierce was showing him. A witch was asleep in a chair with her head on his bed; and her right hand firmly gripping his left.

"Um… What?" he whispered as he turned to Pierce. "When did she…"

"Right after Miyafuji healed you; it took her about an hour and she passed out," he stepped back allowing Vought to see the bed to his right. The young witch from Fuso and her Britannian friend were fast asleep.

Vought looked around as he remembered something, he jerked upright. "Where's Preddy, is she alright?"

Pierce sighed and frowned as Bishop and the witch in question began to wake. "She's fine sir, just a concussion. Sgt. Miyafuji fixed her up after she put you back together." He sighed as the witch in the bed to his left sat up and began to blink, "Sorry ma'am but it seems the colonel doesn't understand the term 'sleep', I apologize and I will be right back." He removed the colonel's curtain as he walked to his office to alert the staff that he had awoken. As he left, the two awake witches left their beds and made their way over to him; smiling at the sight of the sleeping witch holding his hand.

"She's cute isn't she when she's not trying to boss everyone around or take over a battle." Preddy whispered as Maj. Sayn-Wittgenstein twitched at the sound of her voice.

Vought frowned as he lifted his encased hand and wiggled it back in forth causing the major to growl lightly and pull his hand back to the bed. The action caused the two other witches to giggle quietly as the colonel sighed.

He looked up at Preddy a small smile on his face, "I'm glad you're alright Jean; that bastard didn't hurt you too badly did he?"

Bishop watched curiously as both the colonel and the major slowly went red in the face as she responded, "I'm fine… no thanks to you. Why did you risk your life… for me?"

He hesitated as he thought of his response, "I guess I didn't want to see you get hurt… It's my job to protect those under my command." He boasted proudly as he waited for her response.

Lynette watched as Preddy slowly went redder before lunging and wrapping the colonel in a tight hug. She began to giggle at the colonel's expression as the door to the infirmary opened and a large group of people entered and stared at them.

Vought visibly paled as he gazed at the amused glances and raised eyebrows he was getting, "Uh… I can explain…"

Part of the group burst out laughing at his response causing Preddy to pull away redder than before and Heinrike to finally wake up. She looked around bleary eyed as she gazed at the gathered group, "Was-happening? Why wake me up?" She laid her head back down as she gripped the colonel's hand tighter.

Ross walked up as the colonel tried to pry the young Karlslander off his hand. Failing he sighed as he looked up to the commander, "Alright then what did I break this time?"

Ross smirked as he picked up the colonel's report, "Well it seems your right arm was snapped cleanly in two, you had 4 broken ribs; three of which were shattered, a punctured lung, and a ruptured kidney. If it wasn't for Miyafuji, you'd probably be pushing up daisies right now."

Vought nodded, his other hand on his chin, "That's the most intense yet huh… sweet." His expression went somber, "Alright Matt, tell me now; how many did we lose?"

The room went silent as Ross cleared his throat, "six dead and sixteen injured from the ship."

Vought closed his eyes and grimaced and looked down.

"The base lost an additional 34 men with 23 injured. The attackers lost 40 with no survivors and we downed two of the aircraft." He hesitated as the colonel looked up, "Um Lt. Gusev managed to knock one of them out with a Zat; he is in the Brig."

"Good," growled Vought as he struggled to get out of bed, "I'm going to have a nice long chat with him."

The witches paled at this; they had never heard so much malice in the colonel's voice before.

"Um sir… we have another situation."

He nodded as he tried to get Heinrike's hand off his, "What?"

Vought stopped as he heard nothing but silence in the room, he turned to Ross.

"Sir… we have an Empty Quiver."

Vought went white as he stopped moving and collapsed back in the bed, "Oh…"

Minna turned to Ross, "What's an Empty Quiver?"

Ross turned to the witches, "An Empty Quiver is the US military designation for the theft or seizure of special weapons." He looked at them as they began to pale, "Those men stole a nuclear missile."

The witches gasped as they remembered the video they were shown of the nuclear explosion and Eila's vision. __

Vought stood up as he finally extracted himself from the sleeping witch, "Briefing room now; all of you."

As the men went to leave, Minna grabbed Vought's arm, "We are coming too."

He looked at her and sighed, "Fine but please do not speak unless asked a direct question; things are going to get rough fast."

_**September 2, 1945 1600 Hours- Borealis Briefing Room**_

The girls watched as Vought paced the room back and forth as he waited for somebody. When Dr. Lansby entered the room, he walked straight towards him as the room went silent, "How the hell did they do it Evan?"

The doctor pushed his glasses up his nose as he dropped a small box on the table. "It seems that our Goa'uld friend has some friends in high places. He knew the exact theoretical sequence required to shut down the ZPG."

Vought frowned, "McKay said that the only way to shut it down was to destroy it."

Lansby sighed, "Yes well McKay designed the bloody thing, he thought up a way to safely disable and shutdown the system. It seems that the Trust learned of this."

Vought motioned to the lights.

Lansby nodded, "I was on McKay's team when we built the ZPG for this ship; I knew how to start system… without destroying the planet."

"The radios?"

Evan motioned to the box, "A simple but high-powered jammer. I believe you used similar ones when you were with CCT."

Chris looked at the jammer before he sighed, "How did they get it out?"

The doctor grabbed his computer as the wall lit up with a top-view of the ship. "Alright so what we've managed to piece together, the men entered through the opened Jumper bay 3," the route highlighted itself. "Once onboard they made their way straight to the Drone storage; no interruptions or side trips. They knew exactly where they were going."

"What about the guards?"

"The men we left on guard duty were either dead or unconscious. Those wearing the Tin Man armor were knocked out while the single unarmored pair was killed. Based on the scans we completed on the dead and the memories of the living, the Goa'uld attacked them with the Kara Kesh." He dropped the ribbon device on the table; the witches glanced at curiously while Preddy went pale at its appearance.

"What about the LAVs?"

"Both had cut fuel lines; someone attempted to put sugar in the fuel tanks. It succeeded for one of them; the filter saved the other." Ross spoke.

"The SAM?"

Volkov cleared his throat as he stood up, "да… that… it seems that our unintended guest planted an explosive on one of the reloads for the S-400. The explosion severed two of the power cables; the battery is now up and running."

Vought started pacing again ignoring the worried glances he was getting, "Can we track the missing weapon? I mean we have the satellite in orbit and they have tracking chips couldn't we follow it?"

"Unfortunately no," He began, "I went back and checked the payloads again; one of the others had been altered." A graphic marked "classified" appeared on the screen before a large cylindrical object appeared. "Right so I checked both Mark IXs before when the storage was breached the first time and I found no alterations and well, it turns out I was wrong." The weapon broke apart into pieces and zoomed in on a large circuit board. "The jackass- sorry alien, had replaced the control circuits for both Mark IXs. While diagnostics showed the chips to be working properly, any attempt to actually track it would fail. It will not broadcast it's location."

Vought leaned against the table, eyes closed as he sighed, "This shit can't get any worse can it?"

Ross and Lansby quickly pulled on their collars nervously as they refused to look at him. He sighed again, "What?"

"Uh sir…" Ross began, "This alteration…"

"This alteration put the payload in mode 2," finished the doctor.

Minna stood up and put her hands on the table, "Colonel what is going on here and what does mode 2 mean?"

Vought turned to her, regret visible in his eyes, "mode 2 means that any attempt to destroy, alter, or disrupt the weapon will result in it detonating. We have no idea if they are capable of remotely detonating it but they can use it."

Minna sat back down, "And how powerful is it?"

"We designed the Mark IX in a time when we were fighting a group of aliens known as the Ori. It was designed to prevent them from expanding their sphere of influence which meant it had to be capable of destroying a Stargate." He looked right at her, "It can completely destroy anything within 100 miles of ground zero."

The girls rocked in their chairs.

"I'm sorry ladies, we put your world in more danger," with that he left the room; he had nothing left to say. Preddy and Heinrike left to follow him.

Doc sighed as he too got up, "I'll go deal with him, Matt stay and try to explain… anything." With that Pierce left as well.

Ross turned to the witches, "Well then…"

_**September 2, 1945 1620 Hours- Borealis Observation Lounge**_

"Damn it!" Vought yelled as he punched the wall, "Why the hell does this shit keep happening…" he began to tear up as he looked out at the windows at the island. "I can't protect anybody… how the hell are we going to get home alive?" He leaned against the window and slid to the floor as he sobbed into his arms.

A knock on the door frame brought him to his senses, "Chris…"

He looked up to find Pierce standing in the doorway; a stern expression on his face. "Chris you can't blame yourself for all of this." He sat down next to him, "You couldn't have done anything else; we don't blame you for anything. You have given us hope that will make it home eventually."

Vought watched him as he sighed, "Sir you can't keep thinking like this; it's going to kill you. We WILL fix this as a team; not just you. You're not alone here, Minna and the others believe in you as well. Why else do you think these two followed you?" He gestured to the door as Geena and Heinrike walked in looking sad at his condition. Pierce got up, "Listen sir, I'm here to talk if you need me; we're all in this together," with that said, he left.

The two witches looked at each other before moving closer, "Hey Chris… how are you feeling?"

He managed a smirk as he wiped his face and looked up at them; he shrugged. "I've been better… sorry you two have to see me like this; I don't like appearing weak."

Geena shook her head as she sat down next to him, "Its fine Chris; we are all human." She frowned as she looked at him, "Is it true that you blame yourself for everything?"

He sighed, "You can delegate authority but you can't delegate responsibility. It's my fault I didn't try to abandon ship; it's my fault I allowed the Goa'uld to set all of this up and it's my fault all of these men and your men died." He buried his head in his hands.

Heinrike sat down next to him as she nervously wrapped him in a hug with Geena following suit. "Chris we don't blame you for anything. It's partially our fault; we should have told you that there were people out here that didn't like the witches. And besides, you saved me."

"You saved me as well… Chris, we don't blame you; it wasn't your fault," Heinrike mumbled out as she refused to make eye contact with him.

He looked at them, "You guys mean that?"

They smiled as they looked at him, "Of course Chris, we trust you. We wouldn't be here if we didn't. Your our friend now; all of you."

Chris gave Heinrike an amused glance as he ruffled her hair, "What happened to the big, bad, queen of the night?"

The two watched as she buried her red face in the colonel's arm and responded in a muffled voice, "She had a gun held to her head."

Vought and Preddy frowned as they wrapped the silently sobbing Karlslander in their arms. "It's alright Heinrike, as long as you are under my command no one will harm you. Do I make myself clear?"

Preddy leaned back at this declaration and watched as Sayn-Wittgenstein stiffened and stared up at the colonel. "Do… Do you really mean that sir?"

Vought smiled as he looked down on her, "On my honor as a scout."

The two witches smiled at this before they looked at him curiously, "You're a Boy Scout?"

He smiled again as he stood up and helped the others up, "Yep, an Eagle Scout." He looked at them, "Thanks for listening you two… it means a lot." He began to walk to the door and stopped, "And uh you think you two can keep this silent? I really don't need everyone thinking I'm an emotional wreck right now." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

The two witches smiled at each other as they nodded. Geena responded, "Fine but you need to think up something for this situation. And no more of this whiney mopey stuff, deal?"

Vought nodded as he shook her hand, "Deal."

_**September 2, 1945 1645 Hours- Borealis Briefing Room**_

Ross and the other officers conversed on ways to deal with the situation while the witches sat and watched. "What do you think is going to happen Eila?" Sanya asked as they conversed at the table.

The witch in question thought back to her vision, "I really don't know… sorry Sanya."

Before anyone else could speak up, the door slid open again revealing a determined colonel and two smiling witches.

"Sir?"

"Alright guys I have a plan but it's going to be a bit risky," Vought stated as he began an explaination. He turned to Minna as he finished. "You up for this commander?"

Minna nodded and grinned as the other witches joined in, "Yes sir colonel; anything you need you'll get." She turned to Mio, "Get back to the base; we need to send a very important message to Galland." She turned to Hannah, "Captain I don't know about you-"

Marseille shook her head, "Please ma'am there is no way you could ever keep me out of this. I'll let Galland know I'm staying."

Vought nodded as he grinned, "alright then ladies and gentlemen, let's do this thing."

**And another one bites the dust; love, hate? Please rate and review. So does anyone get the chapter title? It is a Cold War reference so kudos to anyone who gets it; the next date pertaining to it is November 14. So… I really don't have much. I love the reviews guys keep them up; thanks again for the suggestions; I have some of them in coming chapters so congrats. Anyway that is really it... so as I said I play World of Tanks and War Thunder; just won a contest in WoT and got my first jet in War Thunder. Super excited at that; Jets rock, I now know what it's like to be king. So after that different tangent, I will talk to you all later; Ghostrider21 signing off. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Fires of Liberation**

**Hey guys, here is chapter 9… sorry for it being late but I had to sort through a few thousand files trying to find this. I still need to find every other chapter but for now here you go. Once again I apologize for the lateness. **

_**Previously**_

"_Alright guys I have a plan but it's going to be a bit risky," Vought stated as he began an explaination. He turned to Minna as he finished. "You up for this commander?"_

_Minna nodded and grinned as the other witches joined in, "Yes sir colonel; anything you need you'll get." She turned to Mio, "Get back to the base; we need to send a very important message to Galland." She turned to Hannah, "Captain I don't know about you-"_

_Marseille shook her head, "Please ma'am there is no way you could ever keep me out of this. I'll let Galland know I'm staying."_

_Vought nodded as he smiled, "alright then ladies and gentlemen, let's do this thing."_

_**September 2, 1945 1100 Hours- Borealis Briefing Room**_

The men and women watched as the younger of the witches vacated the room leaving the senior members of both worlds. As the door closed, Minna dropped her smile and turned to the colonel.

"Alright Chris… What the hell is that and how did someone beat you near death and knock a witch using their powers out." She pointed at the alien weapon on the table causing Vought to sigh and collapse in his chair.

He glanced wearily at Preddy before locking eyes with the commander, "That commander is called a Kara Kesh and it is a weapon and tool used by the Goa'uld. It can project a shield, manipulate gravity, and can be used for torture and memory manipulation. I have faced many weapons over the years and this thing… still gives me nightmares." The witches watched as he shuddered; no one noticed Geena shaking too as she stared at it.

Mio looked it over before poking it and looking up, "Is it still dangerous?"

Vought sighed and shook his head; the ghost of a smile on his face, "Well yes and no. Yes it is still live and could be used again but we don't need to worry about that; it needs a Goa'uld to operate it and the only one probably in this reality is lying dead in the morgue." He picked it up, "besides we are going to destroy it anyway; better safe than sorry."

This caused the collective witches to sigh in relief, none more so than Preddy. A slightly relaxed Minna gave the colonel a slight smile before frowning again, "Chris… In Eila's vision she stated that she saw someone related to something called the N.I.D. At the time you refused to elaborate."

Geena perked up, "He… He mentioned he was part of a group called the Trust."

The girls glanced at her curiously before turning back to the colonel who was staring at his fellow officers. He turned back to them, glancing sheepishly at Eila and Minna, "Sorry ladies but I didn't want to worry you at the time. Soon after you told me about the N.I.D. we began to have… break-ins in various restricted portions of the ship including our weapon storage. I felt that we could deal with the issue before anything happened." He sighed and dropped his head, "It seems I was wrong." He waited for the berating tone he was expecting; when none came he looked up into the sad smile on Minna's face.

"We don't blame you colonel… we withheld our own secret and it cost the lives of some of your men. For that we are extremely sorry." She and the other witches all dropped their heads at this. Minna looked up again, "Now who are the N.I.D. and the Trust?"

"The N.I.D. is the National Intelligence Department and they are a branch of our government," Vought began. "It is a civilian run operation that gives oversight to top-secret and black military operations." He smirked as he shook his head, "The NID and the SGC don't get along very well; they originally tried to shut the SGC down and almost succeeded. Eventually we learned that the NID had been running operations behind our backs and a shadowy board of directors was using them to steal alien tech to sell for financial gain."

Barkhorn growled causing Sakamoto to glare at her. Vought continued, "Finally back in the year 2000 we were able to find and arrest these board members and the corrupt members of the group fled off-world. The NID is now a clean organization although we don't trust them that much and they understand well."

"Then who are the Trust?" von Bonin asked.

"Those corrupt few that escaped, they began unrestricted terrorist operations against the Goa'uld and while effective, they killed thousands including some of our allies."

Heinrike paled at this declaration but otherwise showed no response; the other girls showed various responses. He continued, "Anyway a year or two later the Trust began to become more and more bold including an attempt to incite nuclear war between the US and Russia. We were able to stop it in time and we finally realized that the Trust was under new leadership; more specifically a Goa'uld system lord named Ba'al. Ba'al was a thorn in Earth's side for years; he even went as far to clone himself to throw us off."

The girls blinked, astonished at this information as he ignored them, "Ba'al was eventually killed… all of him, and we thought the Trust would die with him. We were wrong… it seems another Goa'uld has taken control and may even be controlling them from Earth."

"Who is in charge now?"

Vought looked at Harris and shrugged, "We have no concrete details but we do believe that the new head of the Trust is a Goa'uld named Athena… but we have no idea. All we do know is that they are the ones that planted our now dead friend Parin, and because of how important this ship is to Earth, are probably the ones that gave away our mission to the Lucian Alliance."

The gathered men watched as the witches processed the information; Minna nodding and standing caused the crew to sigh in relief, "Thank you Chris; I understand that was hard but please, we will try to let you know anything important; we will not let this happen again as long as you promise to do the same."

Vought nodded and shook her hand as he too stood up; there was work to be done.

_**September 6, 1945 1000 Hours- Borealis Bridge**_

"Sir we have received word from the base."

"And?"

"We are clear to begin at our mission."

Vought gave his crew an evil grin as he leaned back in the control chair; the lights activating as water began to churn behind the ship.

It had been four days since the assault on the ship. The men and women held memorial services for their fallen comrades. Thanks to Sgt. Miyafuji and the medics, all of the injured were saved and were currently pressed back into service. Navy divers had gone in after the fallen C-47 to see if they could find any information regarding their attackers. Without the knowledge of the witches and their men, Vought had authorized Sokolov to interrogate the prisoner any way he seemed fit. The crew working near the Brig had nightmares from the screams the man had produced as the FSB operative questioned him. They had learned that the weapon was probably brought to a secret base in the Northern tip of Africa; the man had not known the exact location. Given this information, Vought dispatched Jumpers with radiation sensors to scan for the errant weapon.

As the ship lifted off, Vought turned to look at Sokolov, "What the hell did you do to him to get him to sing like that?"

Foss and von Bonin turned to look at the Russian as he sighed and looked at the ground; they knew nothing of this.

"Would you believe me if I said I did nothing?"

Chris nearly crashed the ship as he struggled to process this, "How-What… What do you mean you did nothing?"

Vitaly shrugged, "I began to threaten the man and told him that I would be extracting information from him any way I could think of. To scare him I pulled my knife and stuck it into the table and he broke down right then and there. He began to scream in fear before he told me he would tell me anything I wanted, just that I don't hurt him. I agreed and he answered all my questions." He looked at Chris, "easiest interrogation I've ever had to do."

Everyone looked in shock at the colonel's explaination.

"What do you mean; were you planning on torturing the man?" asked Foss in disbelief.

Vought sighed as he shifted his gaze to the witches, "Sorry ladies but when it comes to nuclear weapons and the well-being of this planet, I authorized Sokolov to do anything in order to get information from him."

The two witches stared at him; scared of this side of him.

"Since he cooperated, we are treating fairly and humanly. As soon as we can we will drop him off with Galland's men."

The two looked each other nervously before von Bonin responded, "…Alright then. If you say so."

The conversation was interrupted as the intercoms beeped, "_**Sir this is Minna. The 501**__**st**__** is taking off now. We will meet up with the fleet and press towards the Venezian hive together."**_

Vought grinned again as the chair spun him around to face forward, "Roger that commander. We will follow you, _Borealis_ out."

The ship had reached an altitude of 5000ft based on its two functioning engines; one of which was still only producing 40% thrust. Water streamed off it's hull as Vought drifted it away from the base, the 501st, the remaining witches from the ship, and three 302 flights formed up with them as they began to accelerate away from the base; northward.

Vought looked at Foss, "Joe, I'd thought you'd want to be out their flying right now." He glanced at her legs, "And why are you wearing your striker in here?"

Foss grinned as she looked at him; von Bonin just sighed and shook her head. She looked down at her striker, an F4U-1C Corsair model, and looked back up, "You see Chris… I'm a little on the lazy side." Vought rolled his eyes as he looked at her again, "And besides, my magic is quite a bit taxing on me; it drains me very quickly."

"Oh and what's your ability?" he asked curiously.

Her grin grew wider as she activated her magic, the ears and tail of a cheetah sprouted from her as her striker started with a light roar. The bridge staff turned to her as a breeze was whipped up by her prop wash. She lifted herself off the deck and hovered just above it, "This," she simply stated as she vanished; and reappeared outside the bridge and flying ahead. She grinned back at them as she pulled up and away to join up with the others. Von Bonin sighed again as the crew looked back at her in amazement. "She can teleport." With that said she returned to the window as she observed the witches.

Vought shook his head in wonder; these girls still seized to amaze him.

_Reaper 1- Capt. Carl "Edge" Grant_

"_Geez what the hell!" _Grant thought as he watched Lt. Col. Foss quite literally appear out of nowhere. She waved at him as she flew to meet up with her group. He glanced at her striker as he tried to identify it, "_huh a Corsair… wonder if anyone here has realized who Vought is related to."_ He thought as he looked around him trying to identify the strikers and who was where.

To his right and slightly behind him was Zippo in a trailing formation and to his left was his new friend Capt. Yeager and her P-51 striker. To her left was her wingman-err… wingwomen, Francesca Lucchini in something that resembled a G.55 of some sort.

On the other side of the ship, sat Capt. Richard "Slim" Michaels and his wingman, Hydra-2. With them were Perrine Clostermann and Hanna Rudel. They were wearing a VG 39 variant and a Ju-87 respectively. Towards the rear of the ship, Hunter flight waited with Sgt. Miyafuji and Flight Sgt. Bishop. Grant could not recognize Yoshika's striker but Lynette had a Spitfire of some sort. Floating over the middle of the ship for the first time in a while sat Maj. Preddy and her two teammates, Lt. Col. Foss and Lt. Harris. A glance told him Harris sported a F6F Hellcat while Preddy had another P-51. Leading the push, sat the largest concentration of witches, CDR Minna, Maj. Sakamoto, Capt. Barkhorn, Capt. Marseille, and Lt. Hartmann.

They had three Bf-109 K-4s, a single Fw-190 D-6, a single Bf-109 G-2/Trop, and a single N1K5 Shiden. A shadow passing his cockpit made him look up; above him sat the last few witches; Lt. Kostilev, Lt. Litvyak, Maj. Sayn-Wittgenstein and Lt. Juutilainen. They were wearing a Yak-3, a MiG of some sort, a Ju-88, and a Bf-109 K-4 respectively. Finishing his scan, his jaw dropped as a line of ships appeared on the horizon. "_**-2 you seeing this?"**_

"_**Affirmative lead… that really is the Yamato isn't it?"**_

Leading the line of multi-national ships was the pride of the Fuso Navy, the IFN _Yamato._ The massive ship and it's 18 inch guns brought fear into the crew of the _Borealis_; the last time any American had seen the this ship, it was being beaten into submission by a swarm of bombers weeks after trying to send Admiral Sprague to the bottom of the ocean. The battleship was infamous to CDR Ross and the navy personnel; it brought images of surface battles of old to the crew.

Grant listened as his radio crackled to life, "_**Attention Borealis, this is Captain Sugita Junzaburo of the IFN Yamato. We are pleased to finally meet you and your fine ship."**_

There was a pause before the ship responded, _**"Thanks Captain, you have a fine ship as well. This is Col. Vought of DSV Borealis; we are ready to do this."**_

As the ships met up, a large, dark cloud appeared on the horizon.

_**September 6, 1945 1200 Hours- Borealis Bridge**_

The crew went silent as they stared at the massive, cone-shaped cloud that hovered above Venice. "My God…" whispered someone as they stared at; the land underneath it had been magnified and shown to be a total wasteland. Vought's blood boiled as he looked at it; it was time to end this here and now. He deactivated the cloak as he activated the radios, "Attention all flights; Cleared in hot. Weapons free, weapons free." He watched as the witches and 302s raced ahead of the ship as he turned her perpendicular to the hive. The sensors lit up with hundreds of contacts, "_You guys better come back in one piece…" _"Jumpers engage NOW!"

_Airspace of Venezia_

In front of the advancing fighters and witches, a quartet of Jumpers de-cloaked and opened fire with their Drones. Everyone on the water and in the air watched as the 24 yellow, torpedo-shaped projectiles raced forward, impacted, and flew through the first wave of the small type Neuroi. The sailors and witches watched in awe as the weapons turned around, and began to re-engaged the targets they missed the first time; destroying three times the number they should have been able to. By the time the witches reached the hive's perimeter, the first wave had been completely eliminated. As the second wave approached, the witches and fighters broke into groups and started to engage targets as the Jumpers returned to the ship to reload. The radios burst into chatter.

"_**Barkhorn behind you!"**_

"_**Sanya follow me."**_

"_**Wow almost got me!"**_

"_**Hunter-1, guns, guns, guns"**_

"_**Reaper-2, Fox three"**_

Minutes passed as explosions dotted the battlefield; missiles, triple-A, and Neuroi, exploded everywhere. The _Borealis _shook as another wave of small types made a run at the ship. "Sir?"

"I'm trying," grunted Vought as he targeted their latest attackers. The ship's railguns were sensor controlled and required no outside input. The energy turrets on the other hand required something like Serenity to control. Since she was offline that task fell to Col. Vought giving him great pain as he tried to keep the ship flying and targeting the bogeys at the same time; he frowned as the shields flashed again signaling another hit. "Got them," he smirked as burst of yellow energy intercepted two of the three attackers destroying them in a burst of white shards.

The final Neuroi bleated in surprise at the loss of it's wingmen and it turned and tried to run only to be cut down in a burst of MG fire. _**"Splash one, your clear Borealis."**_

Vought grinned as Preddy blew past the bridge; she climbed back up to meet with her wingman as she reloaded. Vought frowned as he looked at the situation; the battle had been going on for only 23 minutes but due to its intensity, the witches were tiring. Most of the 501st was getting ready to retreat to a nearby carrier and his witches were getting tired as well. "_Damn, what I wouldn't give for an Asgard beam about now…"_

"Sir there is a Bf-109 from Karlsland requesting permission to… to crash land in the hanger."

"What? Put him on."

"This is the _Borealis_, state your intentions pilot."

There was a pause before a radio crackled, "_**Borealis I have an important package from Vice Air Marshall Galland and a message for a Col. Vought."**_

"Go ahead this is Vought."

"_**The message is this, "You owe me one." She said to say I have it."**_

The crew went silent as they stared at the colonel; he looked stunned, "Foss, get the package from that 109 NOW."

"_**I'd love to sir but I've only got one more jump in me before I collapse."**_

Vought frowned as the sensor operator brought up a birds-eye view of the situation; there were too many targets between them and the incoming 109. "All aircraft drop below 500ft and keep clear by 1mi now; cover your eyes. Reaper-1, clear a path, Lancelot authorized."

The bridge went silent as they stared at him; the windows polarized. "…Sir?" Ross asked incredulously.

"Later Matt"

"…_**Copy last Borealis… all friendlies clear, Lancelot away."**_

_Airspace of Venezia_

Everyone watched as the finless missile rocketed away from Reaper-1's internal center bay. The Neuroi watched curiously as their attackers fled and a single small weapon entered their midst. The Neuroi that had been targeted effortlessly dodged the missile; watching as it passed. Reaching it's programmed point, the missile detonated.

Everyone gasped and turned away as a bright white light filled the air. Turning back around, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared; hanging in the air where the missile had been was a large, silvery, amorphous sphere. There was no sound as the sphere expanded and then stopped before silently vanishing; leaving nothing behind. The entire group of Neuroi had been destroyed.

"_**Foss go now; quick before more show up."**_

"_**R-Roger that sir…"**_

Everyone watched as the Liberion witch raced towards the orbiting 109 and reached into the open canopy before she vanished.

"What was that…" whispered a very tired Miyafuji.

Mio looked at the young sergeant as she struggled to stay awake, "I don't know Miyafuji, but we will find out."

_**September 6, 1945 1216 Hours- Borealis Bridge**_

Vought kept the ship stable and continued searching for targets as Foss appeared on the bridge and promptly collapsed as she breathed heavily. She held out her hand, a small box visible as she huffed, "Here… you… go… sir. I'm… going… to take… a nap… now." She passed out as Dr. Lansby rushed the bridge. He grabbed the box as medics began to check her out.

"Will it work Evan?" Ross asked as the doctor opened the box and removed a piece of clear crystal.

He shrugged as he raced off the bridge, "I hope so commander, we're about to find out." He yelled as he sprinted towards Serenity's control systems.

The crew waited in silence as the sensors once again began to fill with targets; more and larger ones than before.

"_**Sir requesting orders; Reaper-1 is Winchester; requesting RTB at this time."**_

The crew glanced outside as some of the witches began to regroup around the ship; the rest remained on a retreating carrier as the rest of the fleet moved up to protect them.

The intercom squawked, "_**Sir…"**_

A burst of light filled the bridge as a familiar brown-haired Lantean appeared on the deck. "Hello colonel; it seems I have been offline for a while."

The crew burst into cheers as the colonel grinned, "Hello Serenity, we don't have a lot of time; Dr. Lansby needs you at the Asgard Core."

She nodded as she disappeared from the bridge. Vought activated the radio, "Alright ladies and gentlemen, we are going to end this; just buy us a little more time."

A chorus of confirmations filled the airwaves as the remaining witches and fighters rushed forward to re-engage the aliens. On the surface, destroyers and cruisers along with the _Yamato_, moved up and began firing long range protective fire. Minutes passed as the witches began to retreat from the battle; one by one as they tired out. At this point in time only Hunter flight was still up; and they were down to their beam weapons.

_Venezian Airspace_

Preddy breathed heavily as she checked her M2. "I've got half a belt left guys," she called out to the four other remaining witches. The others nodded in conformation; they too were too tired to speak up. "_I'm really tired; maybe I should head back now. I'm still not 100% from last time,"_ she thought as she and Shirley climbed up to attack the latest group of Neuroi.

The only remaining witches in the fight were Geena, Shirley, Gertrude, Eila, and Heinrike. The witches broke off into two groups as the Neuroi entered range and they began to fire. Shirley fired until her BAR jammed and as she worked to clear it, a Neuroi blew past her aiming for Preddy, "GEENA LOOK OUT!" The major spun around and tried to put up her shield as the Neuroi fired. The beam hit and shattered her shield due to her exhaustion and destroyed her right striker; knocking her out and causing her to fall from the sky.

Barkhorn roared in anger as she destroyed the Neuroi, covering Yeager and Sayn-Wittgenstein as they dove to grab the falling witch. They caught up with her and grabbed her right before she impacted the water. The two checked her over as Heinrike yelled out over the radio, "Preddy has been hit! She needs help now. Please…"

The two carried her up as the radios began roaring to life again.

"_**The major's been hit? How is she?"**_

"_**Bring her here, Miyafuji can heal her. Miyafuji?"**_

"…_**so tired… I can try."**_

"_**Get her to the ship, we can stabilize her now!"**_

"_**Jean's hurt? …These bastards are going to pay; this ends now!"**_

Everyone watched as a massive number of the yellow torpedoes left the ship and swarmed around it before they merged into a massive stream and barreled towards the hive. The Neuroi attempted to attack the oncoming weapons but their large number and advanced design prevented them from doing too much damage. The stream of projectiles punched through the center of the large cloud that made up the hive and came out the other side before punching back in again. The stream repeated the attack one more time before the hive detonated in a massive white flash. As the light cleared, everyone began cheering; the hive was no more. Everyone cheered and screamed as the white chunks of the hive slowly fell to the ocean while the remaining projectiles returned to the ship.

Shirley and Heinrike attempted to wake the injured major as they made their way back to the ship, "Come on Geena, wake up!" demanded the night witch as she struggled to control her emotions.

"Come on Heinrike we've got to keep moving." At this point in time, the other two caught up with them as they helped carry Geena to the ship.

"_**Ladies we need you try to try and stay as still as possible. We'll get you here faster."**_

"How the hell are you going to do th-" Barkhorn's argument was cut off as the five of them vanished in a bright white light.

_**September 6, 1945 1300 Hours - Borealis Medical Deck**_

Minna and the members of the 501st practically ran to the infirmary as soon as they boarded the ship; Miyafuji was being carried by a worried Erica. Reaching the door they found a sleeping Foss and the others, along with Shirley and her group. Vought was staring at the door nervously.

"Shouldn't you be flying the ship sir?"

Vought tore his gaze from the door, "Ross can handle it for now. Keeping her floating is simple." He turned back to the door.

Minna turned to Volkov as Erica and Lyn tried to wake up Miyafuji, "How was she?"

The major sighed as he ran his hand through his short hair, "She does not look good командир, she had a lot of shrapnel and burn marks from the attack."

Yoshika finally woke up and made her way to the door where she began to pound on it, "Let me in! I can help!"

Vought stepped back as the door slid open and Dr. Pierce appeared dressed in bloody scrubs, "She's stable but she's lost a lot of blood."

Everyone gasped causing Heinrike to grab onto Vought's arm; she refused to shed a tear. The doctor looked at Miyafuji's tired expression, "Come on then but I'm not letting you kill yourself trying to save her." He looked up, "No one else is coming in." With that the door closed behind the two of them; Vought stood there with the once again silent night witch as he tried to calm her down. He looked at the door again, "_Come of Jean… you've got to pull through… you are not dying on me."_

_**September 6, 1945 1500 Hours- Borealis Medical Deck**_

After promising the upset witch that he would be back, Vought headed back to the bridge to move the ship back to base. Once he landed back in the ocean, the colonel made his way back and had been there ever since. Few of the crew left the door as they waited to hear the news pertaining to their friend and crew member. For whatever reason, these witches had wormed their way into the hearts of every member of the crew in an astonishingly short amount of time. Finally two hours after Miyafuji had entered, the door opened once again.

Standing in the doorway was Dr. Pierce looking tired as he gazed at all of them with a solemn expression on his face.

"…Frank?"

He looked at the colonel blankly before a grin began to form on his face, "She's going to make a full recovery."

The witches began to laugh and cry and the crew sighed in relief. Vought sighed as he walked up and placed a hand on the doctor's shoulder, "I owe you one Doc."

Pierce shook his head, "It's not me you owe," he moved out of the way as pointed to another bed near the door where Sgt. Miyafuji lay asleep. "She's the reason she didn't lose her leg."

The witches gasped at this as Vought stiffened, "What do you mean?"

"Well we were able to stabilize her and we found her blood type fast enough to replenish what she lost but her leg… was almost chewed to the bone."

They stared at him in horror, "After we calmed the sergeant down from the sight of so much blood, she was able to heal the leg with the last of her strength. She fell asleep soon after that."

Mio smiled, "I will see that she gets rewarded for her bravery and actions."

Vought looked over his shoulder as Heinrike clutched his arm, "Can we see her?"

Frank frowned as he turned around and looked further into the bay, "Fine but only three." He turned to Minna, "Commander if you want you guys can grab the sergeant; she needs a nice long rest after today."

She smiled as she nodded, "I think we all do." She turned to Vought, "I believe we need to thank you as well colonel. You destroyed a hive with no casualties; we owe you a de-"

She was cut off as any newly rejuvenated Francesca pounced on him and began trying to squeeze the life out of the much larger man. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you." She spat out quickly as she buried her face in his chest. Vought blinked as the others began to laugh at his expense; Sayn-Wittgenstein snorted before she recovered her calm demeanor, entered the doorway, and made her way to Preddy.

"Hey wait…" he looked down as he tried to pry the energetic ensign off him. Failing he gave Shirley a pleading look causing her to sigh and laugh as she helped pull her off him. Thanking her, Vought led Harris into the bay.

Minna turned to Lynette as she glanced nervously into the bay, "Come on ladies let's grab Miyafuji and head back to base. I believe we have a celebration to plan."

Francesca jumped up in joy, "Oh yeah! Romgna is finally free. I can't wait to tell Maria."

The officers watched in amusement as the sleeping sergeant was once again carried out of the ship. They slowly dispersed as a woken Foss and von Bonin followed Ross and Sokolov. Curious, Ross turned to the witches, "I'd thought that you guys would be waiting for your turn to check on Preddy?"

The two witches looked at each other before smiling and shaking their heads, "Nope no need Ross; I think the colonel will be all she needs right now."

The two male officers stopped and stared at the witches as they continued walking, "Wait what do you mean by that?"

_**September 6, 1945 1510 Hours- Borealis Infirmary**_

Vought walked up to Cecilia and Heinrike as they checked on the sleeping major. He watched as Harris patted Preddy on the head before turning and leaving. "Hey wait… aren't you going to stay?"

Harris stopped, turned, and glanced at the two before looking at Preddy, "Nah sir, I think the three of you will be fine. Just wanted to check to see how my buddy was before I go take a nap. I'm beat; later." She waved as she exited.

Heinrike and Chris looked at each other before they grabbed a chair and sat down near Preddy's bed. Vought looked at her, "How you doing Heinrike?"

She sighed as she looked at the sleeping Liberion, "I've been better I guess sir." A glance at Vought's eyebrow made her sigh again, "Chris. I don't normally fight during the day so I'm fairly tired about now."

He looked at her concerned, "You going to be ok?"

She gave him a small smile as she looked at him, "Yeah, I think so." She reached over and patted Geena's hand, "I think I'm going to follow Lt. Harris' lead; I'm going to take a nap." She got up to leave and stopped as she turned to the colonel and gave him a quick hug, "Thanks sir for everything." With that, she left leaving the colonel alone with the sleeping major.

As Vought watched her leave a quiet voice spoke up, "You got her out of her cold, heartless shell faster than anyone you know that?"

He whipped his head around to find Preddy grinning at him with her eyes closed, "Jean, you're awake?"

She opened her eyes and stared at him, "No way, really?" She smiled again at her joke.

Vought shook his head, a wry smile on his face, "How are you feeling major?"

Geena looked at the ceiling, "To be honest, tired and weak." She frowned as she looked down, "I got shot down… again."

There was silence as neither of them spoke. "Jean… You know my story, can you tell me yours?"

(Barenaked Ladies "Odds Are")

She thought for a moment before looking at Vought and nodding, "Fair enough, where would you like me to begin?"

"Start from when you first joined the witches I guess."

She nodded, "Alright then, so I started in the witches with a P-40 striker and was assigned to a group with Fuso in the Red Sea. I was there for a while and got my first couple of kills before I had my first accident."

Vought looked at her.

She continued, "I was rammed by a liaison plane on its way to our base and I was… badly injured."

"How?"

"It was during a thunderstorm and I was on my way back when I was told to escort a plane. I couldn't find it until it plowed into me and knocked me into the water. I awoke a few hours later in the base's infirmary. Next thing I know, I'm being shipped back to Liberion for rehabilitation. I was there for what felt like forever; people kept coming to see me. Months later I found myself being assigned a new striker, a P-47, and was assigned to the 352nd Fighter Group in Norfolk, Britannia. If you haven't noticed by now, I do 'ave a _bit_ of an accent." She stated proudly with her tongue out as she made her accent very noticeable.

Vought grinned at her as she continued, "So anyway I'm in Britannia and was there for at least a year, growing my kill count before I was asked to be transferred to the 506th JFW "the Noble Witches" and I accepted. Later that year I switched from a P-47 to a P-51 as the 506th was moved to the newly liberated Gallia. Here I got a special award because I was the first Liberion to destroy six Neuroi in one engagement."

She rolled her eyes as Vought clapped, "So moving on; my teammates began to realize something, I was being injured in some way pretty much every week; it wasn't until I had a gun discharge and shoot me in the foot that I was given the nickname "Unlucky Preddy" and people began to stay away from me. They thought they were going to be hurt just by being near me."

She looked at her bed; Vought put his hand on her shoulder, "It's cool Preddy, I don't think you're unlucky. You didn't launch with 425 people on a 10,000 year old ship on Friday the 13th at 1313 hours only to wind up stuck in another reality fighting alongside young women carrying heavy weapons and wearing no pants."

Preddy blinked in amazement and confusion about what he said, "Um what?"

Vought shook his head, "Later… you were saying?"

Geena shook her head and smiled before she looked at the bed again, "Anyway last year on Christmas Day I was fighting the Neuroi in a surprise attack over the skies of Belgica and I was smacked out of the sky by friendly AA-fire. I passed out in the snow due to my injuries; some time later I awoke and managed to partially heal myself and found my way back to base. I've been on medical leave since then; and now here I am getting injured yet again." She finished up as she continued to stare at the bed; tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Vought looked around the bay before he leaned forward and wrapped the quietly sobbing Liberion in his arms. "It's alright Jean, as I told Heinrike; as long as you're under my protection, I will not let anything else happen to you. Today was a stupid fluke; it will never happen again."

Preddy pulled herself away as she looked into his eyes; green met brown as she tried to determine whether he meant it or not. Finding he did mean it she did something neither of them was expecting; she kissed him. The two remained like that for a while before they both realized what they were doing causing them to pull away from each other; going bright red.

"Uh did we just…"

He nodded as he looked around, "Uh… yeah."

The two remained silent as they refused to make eye contact, a sense of dread coming over the colonel, "Uh Jean how-"

"I'm 25."

Vought finally glanced at her again in interest, "25? But I thought most witches-"

She cut him off again, "I'm one of a few witches that have kept my magic over 20; I'm planning on retiring soon. I don't want to but my shield is going to start failing soon; if today was any indication."

"Ah… thanks," they both went red again as they thought about it again. Vought got up as he looked nervously at Preddy, "Uh I think I'll be going now… is that ok?"

She nodded as she carefully made eye contact.

"Uh since Doc is going to want to hold you here till late tomorrow, is there anything you might want?"

She thought for a moment, "A crossword puzzle maybe?"

He nodded, "Done," he began to walk away, "And uh Preddy?"

She looked at him.

"I meant everything I said." They both went red again as Vought walked out.

In his office, Pierce leaned back in his chair as he smiled; he had seen the whole thing on the infirmary's camera system. "They fit well together." He reached for a photo of his family, "I'll be home soon guys; don't worry I'll be home."

_**September 6, 1945 1540 Hours- Borealis Observation Lounge**_

"_Why the hell did I do that… She must think I'm trying to catch her while she's weak or something… Damn it I'm her superior… I hope to hell that this doesn't ruin this alli-"_ his internal tirade was cut off as he turned around and nearly jumped through the roof, "SHIT, lieutenant, don't sneak up on people like that."

The soldier gave the colonel a blank expression as he stood at attention; waiting for him to continue. The colonel looked him over, "Your Vitaly's man that was hunting the Goa'uld… and that saved Preddy and I."

He nodded, "да, Я младший лейтенант Артем Гусев. It is a pleasure to finally speak with you полко́вник."

Vought nodded and smirked as he held out his hand, "Thank you for your assistance, младший лейтенант; you saved our lives and the lives of everyone on this base. You were trained well."

Artyom gave the colonel a small grin as he shook his hand, "да, полко́вник Соколов trains well."

He raised his eyebrow, "Really? How does he train you guys?"

Artyom shrugged, "Well…"

_**September 6, 1945 2357 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Runway**_

He sat once again on the edge of the runway; sighing as he looked at his new bottle of whiskey. Smiling he grabbed the bottle, "_Thanks Minna, way to help get a superior officer drunk."_ Vought poured a shot and raised it in a mock toast before downing it; "_To the beginning of the end of the Neuroi."_ He looked back at the sleeping base and his once again functioning SAM. The witches had decided that due to Maj. Preddy being trapped in the ship for the night and Sgt. Miyafuji sleeping, the celebration of Venezia's liberation would be postponed till the following night.

As he gazed at the base he pulled out a data pad and flicked it on. He looked down at it as he began planning the ship's next move. A map appeared displaying the locations of the remaining hives and with the ship able to use Drones again, this would be over shortly; there were 11 remaining. The only set back was the ship itself; most of the engines needed to be replaced so as engineering stocked up on parts, there was no time to repair them. The ship was being limited to a max speed of 700 knots and that meant long hours of flying sat in his future. He groaned at this thought as he poured another shot; at least Serenity could help him now. Then there was the issue with the missing weapon. Footsteps behind him caused him to turn around, "Hello Heinrike, I see you finally woke up."

The night witch huffed as she sat down next to the colonel and looked out over the water. The two remained like that for minutes before the colonel spoke again, "So… you doing any better?"

She looked out at the water before turning to look at him; her light green eyes glowing in the darkness, "I'm better, still a little worn out but I'll be fine." She continued to stare at him making him nervous.

"…What?"

She stood up and closed the distance between the two as she activated her magic, "What are your feelings towards Preddy?"

Vought stuttered as his face began going red again as he looked away, "Wh-What do you mean feelings? She's a member of my crew and is a friend and an ally." Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Heinrike continued to bore holes into his head; her crown-shaped antenna glowing red. After a while she sighed and sat back down as her antenna faded away. He noticed she did not dismiss her familiar.

"I just don't want to see her hurt again," She finally admitted as she went back to staring at the water. He turned back to her as she continued, "She's always getting hurt from something; I don't want to see someone hurting her feelings as well." She looked straight at him, "You do anything to hurt Jean and I will not hesitate to kill you."

He nodded as he snorted and downed a shot, "Get in line."

She tilted her head, "What do you mean by that?"

"In the six months I've been with the SGC I've made numerous enemies both in the Milky Way and Pegasus. I have almost as big of a bounty on my head as Col. Sheppard." He looked at her, "I would never do anything to hurt Preddy and I will try my damn best to make sure she doesn't get hurt again; she is a friend."

She thought about his response, "Fine but I will be watching you, sir, don't test me."

"Fair enough; so how do you know her? I mean you seem to get along pretty well with her."

The night witch glanced at him curiously, "You mean she never told you?"

"All I know is that she's a member of the 506th JFW."

She nodded, "She's the leader of the 506th B-team and I'm the leader of the A-team; we've been working together for the past year and a half."

"Oh, that explains a lot then."

He looked at her, "Did you know how old she is?"

Once again she nodded, "It's an interesting bit of information isn't it? From what I know there are only about seven witches in the whole world that are still flying past age 20. Geena is a good leader and everyone likes her. They like me too but I'm a bit of… what's the word?"

"A hardass?"

He looked away quickly and began to whistle as she glared at him again; her antenna once again visible and glowing blood red. She calmed down and played with her tail before moving on.

"As much as I don't want to admit it… yes that about sums up the way I command. Everyone likes to compare me to Marseille and I don't like it; I think I'm a good leader and I follow commands."

He put a hand on her shoulder causing her antenna to glow pink, "Listen based on what I've seen, that is all true. You are a great leader, and an amazing pilot. You'll be fine."

He removed his hand and went back to staring at the water. Heinrike blinked a few times as she stared at him; struggling not to, she allowed a small smile to grace her face. She scooted closer and leaned up against him. Her antenna glowed bright pink as he turned to look at her; a lopsided grin on his face as he opened his mouth to say something, "Don't. Say. Anything." She ordered as she refused to make eye contact.

He shrugged as he pat her on the head, "Understood… Princess."

She went red in the face as they both went back to staring at the sea.

_**September 7, 1945 0900 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Base**_

'Thunk'

'Thunk'

'Thunk'

Everyone's eyes darted back and forth as they watched the two individuals attempt to outsmart each other.

One of the opponents sighed, "Fine… you win," von Bonin finally admitted as she tipped her king over. The witches clapped as the two got up to shake hands, "Well played Matt, well played."

Ross smiled as he shook her hand, "Indeed well played Huberta. I had no idea you enjoyed a game of chess."

"As I said, it's my favorite pastime… although I'm not very good at it yet. I am learning from my losses."

"As any good player should," Ross responded.

After waking, Ross had gone to the infirmary to check on Maj. Preddy. He found her awake and concentrating as she did a crossword puzzle. Surprisingly he did not find the colonel anywhere and no one had seemed to know where he had went. Noticing von Bonin headed towards the base, he decided to tag along seeing as the colonel had given the primary command staff the day to relax. Learning that the she was an avid chess player, he had grabbed the board he took with him everywhere and challenged her to a game.

The common room cleared as the women left to complete their duties for the day; before Adolfine arrived and the celebration began.

_Other side of the Base- Same Time_

Mio began to walk the base as she completed her sword training for the day. She glanced at her sword as she panted, "_I'm losing magic too quickly; at this rate I will never master Reppumaru."_ A slight droning sound caught her attention causing her to begin to glance around curiously. A small shadow crossing her caused her to look up, "_A B-26?"_ Observing the aircraft she noticed something was off, "_That plane… it's way too small." _She watched as the plane performed a few aerobatics before it dropped it's gear and began to descend. Wanting to see what was going on; she followed it to a clearing near the sea and watched as it landed near a man with a large box in his hand. "Col. Vought? What are you doing?"

"Morning major, what can I do for you?" he responded as he fiddled with the foot tall and six foot long plane.

"What is this? It looks like a B-26."

"That's cause it is a B-26… sort of. It's a model I built years ago; I love to fly this thing for fun. It isn't the easiest thing to fly though; I'm a much better pilot when I'm in a cockpit instead of using this." He gestured to the controller hanging from his neck.

"You built this?" Mio was astounded at the detail of this… model. She could see individual rivets in its skin and could even see little pilots dressed in appropriate attire sitting in the cockpit and the gunner positions. Glancing at the nose, she noticed it had been named, "Flak-Bait? Why that name?" The nose was adorned with numerous tiny bomb shaped markings.

"Flak-Bait was the name of the Army Air Corps most decorated bomber of WWII. She flew 202-207 missions depending on who you asked and returned home every time. Over the course of the war, she was holed over 1000 times, returned with one engine more than once and even landed on fire numerous times." He pat the plane on its vertical stabilizer, "Started making her when I was 15 with my dad's help and I finished her by my 17th. My first great accomplishment; followed closely by my Eagle Scout." He smiled, "fun times."

Mio watched as he stared fondly at the plane; watching him wipe some dirt off the wings before he pulled a cover off of one of the engines and began checking it over.

She shook her head, "Fascinating… anyway I was meaning to ask, how is Maj. Preddy? "

Vought continued to stare at the plane; hiding the blush appearing on his face, "She's doing much better; boredom is slowly killing her though. She's told me she spends more time in hospitals than in the air. I gave her a crossword puzzle but she's itching to leave. She might even try to sneak past Pierce."

Mio frowned, "That isn't the way I would do it but she isn't me… What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be prepping for men for tonight or checking on the major?"

"I gave the primary command staff and crew the day to relax before the celebration. As for Preddy," he looked at the plane again, "Uh… she needs some alone time; she doesn't need her CO standing over her shoulder as she rest. Besides, I needed a little alone time myself; I've been working nonstop for the past two months. I am completely exhausted."

Mio nodded as she began her booming laugh; slapping the colonel on the back and sending him into the dirt, "My apologize sir," she helped him back up, "You remind me so much of CDR Minna… you do need to take a real break every now and then to keep your sanity. I completely understand."

He wheezed as he stood up, "it's cool major don't worry about it. Is Minna really that much of a workhorse?"

"She can be; sometimes she spends the whole day doing nothing but paperwork. It gets so bad sometimes her hand cramps up and she can't hold her pen."

Vought grinned, "Sounds like someone I know back home," his expression dropped and Mio noticed.

"You'll get home sir, I'm sure of it. It may take time but it will happen; just have faith."

Chris looked up at her one eye smile and gave her a small grin back, "Thanks Mio… I guess we should head back now. People are going to start wondering where we are."

She nodded and helped him grab his equipment as they headed back to the ship.

_**September 7, 1945 2020 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW Hanger**_

Vought smirked as he watched the men and women under his command celebrate with the witches and the men from this reality. He and Sokolov sat back as the others continued to mingle; they deserved a chance to have fun. A presence behind him caused him to turn, "Evening Adolfine, how are you tonight?"

Galland frowned as she glared at him, "I'm fine the question is, what are you two doing back here? You're avoiding everybody."

The two men turned to each other before glancing back at her, "We did enjoy the party… we are just getting ready for the next part of the plan. Do you trust us; you know the plan."

She stiffened as she remembered their request from the day after the assault, "…I trust you people; you have sacrificed your very lives to help us. Do it and pray that you people are correct."

The two nodded as they reached for their radios, "_Borealis,_ this is Crosshair; authorization delta two four sierra."

"_**Confirmed"**_

Sokolov activated his, "_Borealis _this is ястреб; authorization victor seven one golf."

"_**Confirmed initiating activation."**_

Onboard the ship Lansby and the chief armory officer worked in tandem as they broadcasted a very special message.

With that done, Sokolov headed off leaving the other two by themselves. Vought turned to her, "Well, it's done. We will find out soon enough if it worked."

Galland nodded, "Very well then." She looked at him again with a slight smile, "I never did get the chance to thank you for destroying the hive. You really are going to help end this…"

_Other side of the Hanger_

Everyone was having a grand time; Vought's men had rigged speakers and had found a crew member who was an amateur DJ. Music blared as some of the younger and bolder people danced. The people from this reality watched in wonder as the DJ laid down his beats as people began throwing him request.

Barkhorn and Clostermann sat back and watched as the others had fun around them, "How can these people call THIS music; it's rubbish."

Gertrude nodded, "Agreed, this is no music I know. Major Sakamoto ma'am, how are you tonight?"

Perrine whipped her head around, "Major ma'am, it's good to see you. How are you feeling? I'm sorry you have to listen to this… trash." She stared fondly at her before she realized what she was doing and looked away embarrassed.

Mio gave her hearty laugh as she swatted her on the back, "relax –hic- Perrine… they are –hic- just having a good time as you should be." She swayed on the spot.

Barkhorn looked at her concerned, "You okay ma'am? You seem… disoriented."

"I'm –hic- okay Barkhorn… I may have had a little to drink…bwa hah hah," She smiled as she began to wonder off into the crowd again. A mortified Perrine chased after her.

Gertrude stiffened as she remembered the last time the major had a little alcohol. Shaking her head she noticed another pair of witches walk up and she frowned, "What do you want Marseille?"

Hannah sighed as she took another drink; Foss at her side, "Come on Trude lighten up. This is a party you are supposed to be having fun. Isn't that right ma'am?"

Foss looked up, "She's right you know Barkhorn; you need to let yourself go sometimes; have fun." She looked up to the DJ as the lights dimmed and he changed the song.

(Basshunter "Boten Anna")

The lights began to flick on and off in sequence with the people from the other reality jumping up and down in tandem. Hannah and Gertrude watched as Joe shrugged and began to join in.

"See she's enjoying herself."

"Yes but as you can see no one else from Karlsland is partaking in this rude excuse for a dance."

"Oh really?" Hannah pointed into the crowd.

"Hartmann! Get over here you will not be doing this." She yelled as she ran after the young lieutenant.

Hannah smirked as she watched her two rivals chase each other. Taking another drink, she noticed Preddy and Harris talking to the ship's doctor who oddly enough, was the primary cook for the evening.

_Other side_

"Come on Preddy let's go have fun. I heard something cool from some of the crew and it is so true. "You only live once," so come on." Harris pouted as they grabbed some food.

"I'm fine Cecilia; I'm still kinda worn out from the other day. You go have fun… it looks like Hartmann knows how to do it in style."

Harris turned and watched Hartmann running around gleefully with Barkhorn chasing her. Nodding her head she began to give chase, "Take it easy ma'am and please don't do anything stupid." She ran off leaving Geena alone.

"Evening major, anything I can get for you? You feeling ok?"

She turned around to find Pierce smiling at her with a spatula in his hand. "I'm good for now Doc and yes I'm fine; just a little tired that's all." She looked at him, "Do you know where the colonel is? I'd like to thank him for the crossword."

Pierce frowned as he looked around, "Uh… I'm not sure… Oh wait, there he is," he pointed out Galland, Sokolov and Vought in the corner. The two watched as Sokolov walked off.

"Thanks Doc I'll go say thanks...now" she looked slightly downcast as she began to walk away.

"Hey wait."

She turned around as Pierce shoved a burger on a plate to her, "Give this to the colonel… I believe he will thank you for it."

She shrugged as she walked off. Watching her leave, Pierce turned to his helper and excused himself as he made his way to the DJ; a grin forming on his face as he thought of his request.

_Other side of Hanger_

As she approached, she watched Galland smile and lightly punch the colonel in the arm before she walked off to mingle again. The colonel was smiling and shaking his head as he watched her leave.

"Hey Chris… how's it going?"

Vought swung his head around as he smile brightened before he began to get nervous, "Hey Jean, I'm good how are you? You doing ok?"

She smiled, "I'm doing better just a little tired still. Oh and here you go; Doc said you would like it." She held out the burger.

He took it and eyed it carefully, "Doc you say? Hm…" he stared intently at the burger before he sniffed it. His eyes widened, "No way…"

Geena tilted her head as the colonel pulled the top bun off, "What?"

She watched in astonishment as his eyes began to tear up, "He put… BBQ sauce on it… sweet lovely BBQ sauce," he mumbled as he took a bite and sighed.

She laughed at the expression on his face as another song began to play.

_**September 7, 1945 2020 Hours, location unknown**_

"Sir," the sergeant spoke as he entered the man quarters.

The man looked up as he stopped writing, "What is it?"

"The radio sir."

The man frowned; Wells and his friend had never shown up to the planes or if they had, they died in the two crashes. He grabbed the alien radio, "Who is this?" There was a short pause before he got an answer.

"_**If you are hearing this then good. This is a prerecorded message for the current owner of MY Mark IX. Hello, this is Col. Christopher Vought; CO of the Lantean battleship Borealis. You recently broke into my ship, killed my men, and friends of mine to steal something from me. I do not take kindly to that; by now you know that the alien assisting you changed the weapon to prevent me from tracking it and this radio cannot be tracked as well. Well you receiving this message means that I can in fact send a signal to your location and that bodes well for me; not for you. I am going to give you two months to return the weapon to me for disposal; I'm not sure if it can be safely disarmed. Have a nice day."**_

The man frowned as he stared at the device, "_interesting but what does it me-"_

"SIR!"

He turned around, "What is it now?"

"The weapon…"

The man leaped up and followed his men to the storage location for the weapon; it's control panel was lit and it was displaying a countdown. T-minus 61 days and counting.

…**So… A late chapter. Sorry everyone, it seems even a programmer such as myself can be defeated by a computer (HAL will not kill me though). Anyway here it is… please don't shoot; I do not take kindly to bullets. On another note, the longest chapter yet so a plus for you readers; have at it. Nothing much else so I will leave it at that, Ghostrider21 signing off.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Into the Fire**

**Ghostrider21 back online; I'm sorry everyone and I have an explanation at the end for everything. Sorry for the wait but here you go. I do not own anything but my OCs and story, everything else belongs to their respective owners.**

**Previously**

_The man frowned as he stared at the device, "interesting but what does it me-"_

"_SIR!"_

_He turned around, "What is it now?"_

"_The weapon…"_

_The man leaped up and followed his men to the storage location for the weapon; it's control panel was lit and it was displaying a countdown. T-minus 61 days and counting._

_**May 11, 2018 1900 Hours- Atlantis Conference Room**_

Landry frowned as Vought finished speaking, "Let me get this straight colonel; you lose a Mark IX, you can't find it and your first response to this is to activate it even when you know the weapon is unstable. In what world is that ok?"

Sheppard watched as the colonel thought up a response, "Sir with all due respect, you weren't there. You had no idea what was going on; I took a gamble and it seemed to work. The weapon did not detonate itself upon receiving the signal and at that point in time, we had no idea if it even worked. We had no idea how to track the weapon and frankly sir, we had lives to save." The calm expression of his face and Ross's was all Sheppard needed to know that they were right. He turned to the two generals as they silently discussed this turn of events. Jean was still by the colonel's side as she too stared at them. He smirked as O'Neill sighed and turned back to them.

"It seems colonel that Landry here believes that I would have behaved the same way had I been in your position. Though I'm not sure where he got that idea." Everyone in the room smirked at this as the SGC personnel all recalled different instances in which the grizzled general… acted up. "So I'm going to let it slide as long as you didn't murder defenseless thousands."

They all dropped their smirks at this declaration, "Personally though, I would have given them a day or so; not enough time for them to come up with a response." They all stared in disbelief as he closed his eyes and shrugged. He glanced at his watch, "Alright you know what? I'm going to call it a night." He looked at Vought, "And I'm going to give you guys the weekend off though I expect you to get right back to the debriefing first thing on Monday. Is that understood?"

They all glanced at the general; surprise on their faces. Vought blinked, "Uh yes sir; completely understood."

"Good, dismissed." He gathered his belongings as he and Landry stood up; the shutters opening behind them. As the left, the customary group of eavesdroppers scattered in alarm as the two headed towards the gate; ready to be beamed up by the next passing ship. Everyone watched as the Jack winked and threw all of them a one handed salute as the two of them vanished.

The moment they left everyone swarmed into the conference room and began asking questions only to be stopped by Sheppard.

"Alright guys give them some space. They've had a rough… they've been gone for a while so let them take a few days to decompress," he grinned at them, "then you can grill them all you want."

The gathered dispersed as Vought glared at him, "Seriously John?"

The group watched as Sheppard grinned and shrugged, "Whatever Chris, I'm trying to help you out. Jean it was nice meeting you, Ross it's good to see you again, and I'm going to get dinner." With that he walked out with McKay, Zelenka, and Beckett following.

The remaining three smiled as they left before two turned to the other. Jean hugged him, "Lighten up love, he just messing with you."

Ross grinned as he watched the two embrace each other; the action causing him to remember something, "Hey guys? You think she woke up yet?"

The two froze and went pale as they turned to him, "Oh shit I forgot about her… she is going to kill me."

Geena shook her head as she buried her face in Chris's chest, "No she's going to kill me first," she mumbled out.

Vought laughed nervously as he glanced at his wife, "Nah she's probably still asleep. Right Matt?"

Ross grinned nervously back as he rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, you're probably right. Ha ha ha…" his laughing died out as a technician approached them with a radio.

"Uh Col. Vought?"

Chris blinked, "Yes?"

He held out the radio, "Um Dr. Keller said someone else was awaking and she wanted to know how to deal with her."

"Her!?" The three yelled in alarm as Vought grabbed the radio, "Keller what is it?"

The sound of breaking glass and girlish screams blared from the radio followed by a very annoyed voice, "_**WHERE IS HE?!"**_

The three gulped and went pale again as they dropped the radio and raced for the infirmary.

_**May 11, 2018 1900 Hours- Atlantis Infirmary**_

Dr. Keller walked among the sleeping members of the _Borealis_; stopping to check on their vital signs as she walked by. Since Beckett had abandoned her to follow Col. Vought around, she was left alone with the orderlies. Walking by a bed, motion of the occupant got her attention.

"Hello there, I'm Dr. Keller. Do you know where you are?" She asked the bleary eyed occupant as she began to glance around; attempting to identify her surroundings. Blinking, she finally locked eyes with the smiling face of Dr. Keller; a frown on her face as she struggled to speak.

"What was that ma'am I didn't quite catch that?"

Keller choked as a hand grabbed her shirt collar, "I said "where is he?"" she rasped out.

_**May 11, 2018 1914 Hours- Atlantis Infirmary**_

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit there is no way she is already causing trouble," Vought stated as the three of them made it to the infirmary door; security teams and the sound of a scuffle was what greeted them. He beckoned for the teams to put their weapons down as he opened the door; a beaker exploded near his head. He ducked before he peeked into the bay and sighed at a familiar sight.

"I thought I told you that wasn't the way to treat people Princess?"

Major Heinrike Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein spun around as she dropped her hold on Dr. Keller's collar; her tail and ears dropped as her blood red antenna faded away, "Chris…" she whispered as she lunged at him and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug. She sobbed into his chest as he smiled and patted her on the back.

"Shh it's alright; you're safe now. We're all finally safe," He cooed as he rubbed her back. Jean walked in and smiled at the sight as she too walked over and hugged her; Ross leaned against the doorway and grinned.

Ross waved off the security teams as Beckett and Zelenka walked in; Beckett looked around in horror, "What in the bloody hell did you do colonel?!"

Vought looked up as she finally stopped crying and pulled away; a light blush visible on her face as she refused to make eye contact. "Sorry Beckett, it seems my little sis woke up on the wrong side of the bed again." Heinrike huffed as Vought gave her an amused glance. She looked at the ground before looking at Keller and Beckett, "Sorry ma'am for attacking you and sorry sir for making a mess," she sighed, "I'll clean it up."

The SGC personnel watched amused as the young blond pouted like a little girl as the colonel messed up her hair. Beckett frowned as he realized what Vought said, "Oy colonel, you don't have a sister; or any siblings for that matter."

Vought shrugged as he looked down at the blond witch who finally dismissed her familiar, "True but you know… Heinrike and I just sorta clicked; she's like the sister I never wanted," he took an elbow to the stomach, 'Cough,' "fine, never had."

"So when did this happen?" Zelenka asked from the side.

The two looked at each other before turning to the doctor and shrugging, "beats me Doc, it just sort of happened."

Geena smiled and giggled as she hugged her again; Heinrike kept a straight face as she was crushed by her.

Matt shook his head again as he finally moved and began picking up the larger pieces of glass with the others soon following suit.

_**May 11, 2018 2019 Hours- Atlantis West Pier**_

He watched amused as the two women looked around in awe of the city with the lights lit against the dark sky; a storm visible on the horizon. His expression turned to concern, "How are you two feeling? You don't feel sick at all do you?"

The two turned to him and shook their heads, "We're good Chris; our magic is keeping us intact. Besides if we wanted to we could go back to visit right?"

His expression brightened as he sighed, "Yes, yes we can. Just not right now." He looked up at the sky, "I think I've had enough of jumping around for a while."

The two nodded as they leaned against him and stared up at the sky. Jean looked around again, "So where exactly are we? I know we're on Atlantis, on Earth, but where is here?"

Vought smirked as he threw his thumb over his shoulder, "San Fran is about 250 miles that way. The city is technically in international waters but… since we found it and we have the presence here she is part of the SGC and by relationship, U.S. property."

"But what about the rest of the world?"

He looked to his right at Heinrike, "Well the Stargate is still classified information; only a couple of countries know it exist and the number of people that know are in the low hundreds. So unless something happened in the time that we were gone, the project in still secret and this place and currently you two, do not exist."

The two glanced curiously at the amused grin on his face and they shook their heads in wonder. He looked at them again, "Soon guys we can go explore; if my house is still mine, we can go take a look. First we need the rest of the crew to wake up. I refuse to be away when and if they awaken."

The two nodded in agreement, they had been through too much with the men and women they served with. Vought stood up, "Alright then ladies let's get to bed; I have a feeling having the day off is going to be interesting." He helped both of them to their feet, "Heinrike, as much as I know you're not going to like it Beckett wants you to stay in the infirmary overnight." He watched as she began to grind her teeth before she took a deep breath and sighed.

"…Alright then Chris, just make sure to get me first thing in the morning. I have a feeling Dr. Keller may be a little upset with me."

Chris and Jean grinned at each other before glancing back at her, "Noooo… what gave you that idea?"

She rolled her eyes as she huffed and stomped off; the other two followed her.

_**May 12, 2018 0845 Hours- Mess Hall 2, Central Spire**_

He leaned back in a chair as he flicked through his newspaper, the other occupants of the hall enjoying their breakfast for the day. The conversations quieted slightly as the door to the room opened and closed; the conversations returned to their previous volume. The reader sighed but refused to put down his paper as a group stopped in front of him; the two with him glanced curiously at the newcomers before looking to the reader who continued to ignore them.

"So… you going to say hello or are you going to keep ignoring us?"

The two with him watched as he smirked before folding his paper and dropping it on the table exposing his guest. "Hey Cam, how's it going?" Chris smirked as he stood up to give Colonel Cameron Mitchell a quick hug. "Teal'c," he shook his hand as the Jaffa in question nodded. Chris turned to the remaining two; he shook the hand of one of the others, "Daniel." Dr. Daniel Jackson smiled as he returned the handshake before he turned to the last and frowned and held out his hand, "Va-" he began before she wrapped him in a hug. Heinrike watched nervously as Geena began clench and unclench her hand before she took a deep breath and smiled at her husband's interactions.

Chris froze up as Vala Mal Doran continued her hug before releasing him and stepped back to a facepalming Dr. Jackson, SG-1 watched as he nervously turned to the two women at the table with him.

"So dear… you going to introduce us or not?" Jean spoke slowly and carefully with a grin on her face causing Chris to pale considerably.

He gulped before he turned back to them, "R-right, SG-1 this is my wife Jean and this is Heinrike." He spoke as he pointed them out, he turned back to the others as the two stood up and walked up to them; he pointed to them, "This is Col. Cameron Mitchell, Teal'c, Dr. Daniel Jackson, and Vala Mal Doran; they are SG-1."

The two witches lit up in understanding as they remembered everything that Chris had told them of this legendary team. They shook hands as Mitchell turned to Chris, "Wait married? You? Can't be… no one can put up with you."

Chris dropped his head and sighed as the others laughed at him, "Whatever at least I AM married… unlike some people."

The colonel shrugged as he responded, "Whatever I haven't found the right women yet." He turned to Jean, "I hope you didn't have to settle for him… he's a bit… strange," he finished with a grin that caused the others to laugh again and the other colonel to start moping.

The laughter stopped as Jean shook her head and gave Chris a small kiss on the cheek, "While he is different I did not settle for him."

_**May 12, 2018 0911 Hours- Gym, East Pier**_

"So you're a 302 pilot like Chris?"

"Yep I was even in the Battle of Antarctica when we found the Ancient outpost. I was one of the best until he… came along." Mitchell pointed an accusing finger at Chris as the group walked into the gym; stopping at Chris's reactions to the occupants. They watched as the tallest in the room stood up and began to walk towards them; he held a stick out pointing at him, "You are sparring… now," he stated as he threw a pair of the sticks to him.

Chris looked around nervously as he caught the batons, "I…well…can't… I just woke up…"

Heinrike looked to Mitchell, "Why is he freaking out like this?"

He looked down to her with a lopsided grin on his face, "Well that is Ronan Dex; Chris's old sparring partner from Pegasus. He was one of Col. Sheppard's team members along with her." He pointed at the Athosian walking towards them.

Mitchell stepped back as Telya began to introduce herself to the two witches. Mitchell turned to Teal'c as Vought nervously began to stretch, "twenty bucks says Ronan gets his ass kicked."

The former first prime shook his head, "I believe you are wrong Mitchell, I will place twenty dollars on Ronan."

Mitchell nodded as he shook Teal'c's hand, "Deal; prepare to lose my friend, prepare to lose."

_**May 14, 2018 0900 Hours- Atlantis Conference Room**_

Walking into the room O'Neil sighed as he noticed the number of listeners had increased… again; Landry just smiled and looked to his superior as Jack glanced around with an unamused expression. Both generals raised an eyebrow at Col. Vought's beat up appearance; A glance to the content look on Dex's face answered the two's questions. Landry and O'Neil sat down and stared at the ruffled colonel, his amused wife, and another young lady they did not know. The silence continued, "Well colonel, you going to introduce her or not. I've got a sche-"

Everyone turned to the entrance to the room as the shutters were over-ridden and a lanky, messy-haired young man stumbled in and stared at Chris. Everyone watched astonished as the individual raised his hand and pointed directly at the colonel, "YOU… where are they?"

Everyone turned to the colonel as he blinked and tried to respond, "Uh hey Jon… good to see you too."

As Chris continued to watch the man named Jon, Jean turned to Ross, "Who's that?"

Ross smirked and shook his head as he watched the two generals observe Jon chewing his superior out; he turned back to Jean and Heinrike who joined in as well, "That, is Dr. Jonathan Masters. He is the… uh was the President of Sky Masters Inc. and is their chief scientist. Most of our tech on the ship was designed and built by him and I have a feeling I know what he's here for."

Jean turned back to Chris as he finally responded, "Alright Masters CALM, DOWN, geez, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Masters finally blinked and realized what he had done; glancing around he realized he had interrupted something and was trying to recover the situation. "Uh hey General O'Neill, General Landry… uh sorry for the interruption…"

O'Neill put his face back on the table as Landry shook his head, "it's fine Dr. Masters, I'm assuming you're here for the CIDs correct?"

Masters nodded as he turned back to the colonel, "Heh… sorry colonel… got a little ahead of myself there… it's good to see you again and I'm glad you're ok. SO about the CIDs…"

Both generals glanced back to Vought and Ross as the later pointed back to the colonel. Vought cleared his throat as he looked at Masters, "Well… the good news is -7 survived."

"What happened to -8?"

"Completely destroyed."

Masters sighed as he dipped his head, "Well there goes another one…" he looked up, "Where's -7?"

Vought turned to McKay who shrugged; he turned back to the doctor, "Well unless the Jumper Bay vented it to the atmosphere, it should still be on the ship."

Masters nodded, "And where's the ship?"

McKay spoke up, "The Alpha Site."

"Alright then," he turned to the two generals, "when can I go pick up my equipment? Your contract with us has ended and we kinda need it back."

O'Neill nodded, "Of course, you can go," he looked at his watch, "when the colonel finishes his debriefing. Since you're here you might as well sit in," he beckoned to the dwindling number of seats.

Masters sighed as he pulled out a tablet and his ever present squeeze bottle of Pepsi, and sat down. O'Neill waited as he situated himself before he turned back to the colonel, "Now colonel, who is she?"

Heinrike stood up, "Good morning gentlemen, I am Heinrike Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein. A former Major of Karlsland and a night attack witch." She continued standing as O'Neill and Landry gave Vought a look.

"Hm… so you brought another one with you…" O'Neill deadpanned.

As he continued to stare at the colonel, Mitchell turned to Sheppard, "So what's a witch and what does he mean by another one?"

Sheppard grinned as he pointed at her, "Watch and learn."

"So ma'am if you're one of these witches, can you still use your abilities?" Landry asked.

SG-1, Ronan, Teyla, and Masters all watched, amazed as she nodded and began to glow. As the glow subsided, the ears and tail of a black cat had sprouted from her. While she stood there, a green, crown-shaped form appeared above her forehead; the color of it jumped between green and pink as she tried to ignore the stares.

Mitchell and Jackson turned back to Sheppard who just shrugged and grinned, "Explain now," Mitchell demanded.

"Indeed," Teal'c responded with his eyebrows raised. Masters was about to chime in when his tablet beeped indicating it had received a file. Glancing up he noticed McKay was nodding at him to open it. Opening he discovered files pertaining to Vought's debriefing so far so without further ado, he dug in and began absorbing the data at an incredible rate.

Landry and O'Neill glanced at each other before they turned back to the colonel and the witch. A nod to Heinrike got her to dismiss her familiar and to sit back down next to Jean, "Alright colonel back to business."

The projector and his log came back to life behind him as he stood up, "Roger that sir."

_**November 6, 1945 0612 Hours- Borealis Briefing Room**_

Vought glanced around at his men; the witches were still asleep or unaware that this meeting was taking place. He flicked through the plans that they had laid out on the table in front of him. "Alright then… who is in favor of the three prong attack?"

He watched as most of them raised their hands and he nodded. It had been nearly two months since the first hive had been destroyed and they had sent the activation signal to the missing nuke. Between the Jumper teams and Galland's men, they had narrowed the errant weapon to one of two locations in Africa, near Tangier or near the Suez Canal. In the meantime, two more hives had been destroyed; the one near the Black Sea and the one near the Sphinx in Egypt. Reports were saying that the base may be hidden in some ruins near the canal; the ship might have even flown over it, they had no idea…yet. Vought looked over the reports from Hives destruction as the crew bickered over the plan for the coming days; they did not have much time till first light.

Preddy had been grounded… permanently or at least until the higher ups determined whether or not she was a liability. No amount of complaining from Minna or Adolfine and no request from Vought and the crew was making them budge on their decision. Geena was discouraged to say the least and had been extremely quiet for the past few days and she had been avoiding everyone. Vought had a plan though and a little treat for the rest of the witches. He shook his head as everyone turned to him.

"Alright then we can only spare four Jumpers so that means I am releasing 80 men for duty. That's 40 per assault." He looked at his men carefully, "I'm authorizing both CIDs for duty and I want at least half of both teams wearing Tin Man armor," he turned to Sokolov, "We don't have time to convert the interface into Russian so at least half of the teams are going to be American."

Vitaly nodded, "Understandable." He stood up, "I will be leading the attack on the El Hoceima base and I will be taking CID -7."

Vought nodded as he turned back to the others, "The second group will be commanded by Capt. Thompson."

The Marine in question blinked in response, "Uh sir? You sure you're alright with that?"

Vought nodded, "I trust you captain, you're a damn fine Marine; you will do fine." He looked around the room, "Both teams are being assigned one technician to disarm the weapon when it is found." He sighed as he looked at the table before he looked back up, "If it comes to it that the weapon can't be disarmed, the plan is to hook it to a Jumper and get it as far out to sea as possible before dropping it. I pray that it doesn't come to this. The mission launches in 24 hours so gather your assigned teams and prep for combat; Dismissed." As the room cleared Vought found himself alone with two others. He looked at one, "Yes Alexei I know you want to do something but we don't have time to drop off any of the tanks. The teams will just have to make do with mortars and rockets."

Maj. Volkov frowned as he nodded, "Understood полковник… do we not have any means of air-transporting them?"

Vought stood there thinking, "Well… not at the moment… we may be able to modify a Jumper to carry one… I'll have Lansby look it." He looked back to the major, "Sorry my friend but I'll make sure you get action next time." He watched him nod as he left leaving just two. Vought turned to the remaining man, "Well Ross we are cutting it close aren't we?"

CDR Ross nodded, "We are but I think we can do it."

Vought gave him an unamused stare, "Think huh?"

Ross nodded sheepishly, "Well… we do only have a buffer of 24 hours here in the event the weapon was armed."

Vought sighed as he looked away, "I know… it took too damn long to find it."

Ross put a hand on his shoulder, "We've got this sir it will all work out in the end."

He looked at his XO, "Thanks Matt."

Ross grinned, "Don't worry about it sir, anytime. Now don't we have some witches to help?"

Vought grinned as well, "I have an idea; it will be done today and I'm sure it will break everyone out of this funk. Now where is Grant?"

_**November 6, 1945 0830 Hours- 501**__**st**__** JFW**_

"So…" Minna looked around at everyone gathered for breakfast; no one really wanted to speak. It had been that way since they learned that Maj. Preddy had been grounded. She sighed; she hated seeing her witches like this. She turned to her XO, "Mio… any ideas?"

Maj. Sakamoto turned to her and shrugged, "…I'd say training but… I don't think that would really work. Beach training again maybe?"

"…Maybe…"

The 501st was bored and that wasn't settling very well with Mio or the others. The crew from the other reality was bringing them on every mission with them but they were way too efficient at destroying the Neuroi. The battle above the Sphinx had lasted only 15 minutes. Minna didn't know what to do when the door opened, "Col. Vought… good morning sir what can we do for you?"

All the witches in the room turned to the door curiously, "Thanks Minna, actually are you guys busy right now?"

Minna looked to Mio before turning back to him, "Uh no… we were deciding what our plans for the day was. Why do you ask?"

Everyone watched the grin on his face grow larger, "Excellent… would you all please follow me."

Everyone turned to Minna as they waited for her orders, "Uh… I guess so then colonel. What is this about?"

He beckoned for them to follow as he responded, "Since you girls have helped us out so much, we figured we'd do something for you."

All the witches stood up and began following him out; they were extremely curious at this statement. What could they possibly do for them?

_Outside-Runway_

Outside, the 501st was greeted by… the witches from the ship and a single Jumper parked on the runway. Shirley blinked, "Oh hey Carl. How's it going?"

Capt. Grant looked up from his inspection of the ship, "Oh hey Shirley; Ladies; What's up?"

All of the witches gave him a sideways glance as they turned back to Vought, "Colonel… what is going on?"

Foss nodded as well, "What she said."

The colonel glanced around at the gathered witches; his eyes lingered on the still downtrodden Preddy before turning back to Minna, "I will explain everything soon now let's all get onboard."

_15 minutes later over the Adriatic_

After confirming that Grant was continuing his previous course, Vought entered the rear bay, "Alright ladies, you wanted answers, well here they are." He looked at the curious faces of the 16 gathered witches. Marseille had returned to her unit in Africa to help move the no longer required Afrika group to help Europe. She had sworn that she would return to help see this through to the end. He continued his explanation, "We've had a rough few months I know that and I'm sorry for it." Everyone glanced at Preddy as she continued to stare at him, "That is why we decided we should do something to maybe get you ladies out of this funk." A knock on the bulkhead separating the two sections of the Jumper caused his grin to grow yet again, "And that is why we decided to do this," He beckoned them all to the door as it slid open; the sight caused them all to gasp.

The sky through the window was black and the stars were extremely bright. The Jumper had reached Low-Earth orbit and showing the blackness of space to the young women of this reality. Over their shoulders Vought smiled, "Welcome to space ladies, you are all officially astronauts now. Congratulations."

Foss turned to the amused colonel; shock visible on her face, "Uh whaaaat!?"

"Just what I said," Foss turned back to the window as the witches all crowded into the cockpit. Vought sighed in relief at seeing Preddy finally showing a smile on her face as she stared in awe. Noticing the same thing, Grant nudged the ship around so the girls could see their planet. They gasped once again as the Earth filled the window.

Grant grinned as he looked to Yeager, "Hey Shirley, guess how fast we're going."

Yeager tore her gaze away from the window as she looked to Grant, "… What hm… I have no idea."

Grant turned the chair around as he looked right at her; a few of the nearby witches looked at him as well as he told her, "Well… we are currently moving… around 27,000 KPH."

Vought had to bite his tongue to stop from laughing; Shirley's eyes had glazed over as her mind struggled to process that speed. Lucchini was shaking her trying to get her to snap out of it. Minna smiled as she turned to Vought, "I think you may have broken her."

Vought grinned as Minna looked back outside; he turned around and began to put on some boots he had stored onboard. By the time he had finished, the girls were starting to snap out of the trance produced by being in space for the first time. They began to question Grant about where they were and high they were as Vought began to mess with the control panel in the back compartment.

"So we are pretty high now aren't we?"

Grant turned to Kostilev, "We are," he turned to the instrument panel as the HUD displayed the data he was looking for, "at an altitude of 300 km over the planet."

Everyone stared at the display as it modified itself to show their current altitude, speed, and orbit. Grant turned to Eila as she spoke up, "The highest Sanya and I have ever been was 33 km and that was a challenge in itself."

"33 km huh… why were you up so high… and how the hell did you get up that high anyway?"

Mio answered for her, "There was a Neuroi from the Venezian hive, about 2 months before your ship showed up. It was a single extra-large type that was 33,333m tall. The core was unfortunately at the very top."

Grant whistled as he tried to imagine a target that size.

"As for how we got those two up there, we had a staggered launch using special magic ether rockets. We carried them up to altitude."

Grant turned to the two, "Alright then how did you survive up there then?"

"Well we dressed warmly and had to constantly create a magic barrier to prevent ourselves from suffocating."

Grant nodded; clearly impressed, he modified the display to show the difference in altitudes. Sanya studied the display carefully; she was interested in this information. Out of curiosity, she activated her magic and began trying to see if she could detect any signals from this high up. Noticing what she was doing, Heinrike did the same. It was at this point in time that Gertrude finally noticed that Vought was still in the back of the ship just watching them with a clearly amused expression.

"What are you wearing sir?"

The witches turned around to see Vought standing in the middle of the bay wearing metal boots and a large… thing on his arm. He looked down at his boots, "What? Haven't you ever seen boots before?"

The other witches giggled as Barkhorn went red, "Yes but… why are they metal?"

He shrugged, "Why don't you come here and find out?"

She shrugged as she took a step into the rear, only to hit her head on the ceiling; she looked down at the deck clearly confused. Hartmann stared at her jealously, "Not fair Trude, how are you flying without your striker?"

Gertrude floated there in the air trying to figure out how to move around; she looked at Hartmann upside-down, "I-I don't know. I don't know how to get down from here." Somebody then grabbed her shirt and flipped her right-side up and held her feet to the ground. She turned to find the still amused Vought standing right behind her, "having fun yet captain?"

She looked at him, still confused on how he wasn't floating around as well. He smirked as he tapped the device on his arm causing him to begin floating off the deck. He pushed off and rolled in the air before planting his feet on the ceiling once again hitting the device on his arm. His feet stuck the ceiling with a 'thunk'. Gertrude found herself face to face with the upside-down colonel before she started to float again, "I disabled the artificial gravity back here so you ladies could get the full experience of being in space and that means experiencing zero gravity." He gave Gertrude a light push towards the rear of the Jumper as he walked along the ceiling towards the front. He held out his hand to Erica who was jumping up and down; excited to fly without her striker.

After Vought pulled Erica through the opening, the other girls quickly followed. He flipped around again and entered the forward section and leaned against the door frame as he watched the witches have fun. He and Grant were extremely relieved that Geena was finally laughing and having fun again. He watched them before the console beeped alerting him to a radio call. Grant sent the message to Vought as he reached for his earpiece, "Go ahead."

"_**Sir the assault teams have finished prepping and loading. They are requesting permission to disembark and begin setting up for the assaults."**_

"Roger _Borealis_ tell the teams they have a go. Tell them to go get set up."

"_**Understood."**_

He turned to Grant, "What do you think captain? You think we can pull this off?"

Grant nodded as he looked at his superior, "I think so sir; we've got this and ain't no one going to stop us."

"Good to know captain, good to know."

Unbeknownst to the two, Mio and Yoshika had overheard the whole conversation. Not wanting to let the two know that they had been eavesdropping, they began to move away from the door only to find the colonel turning to look at them. Unsure what to do Mio re-entered the cockpit, dragging Yoshika with her.

"What can I do for you two?

Remembering something Mio spoke up, "Well sir during our attack on the Venezian hive, you used a weapon that made no sound. What was that?"

Vought turned to Grant who shrugged; he turned back to the two, "Well that was a Lancelot ABM."

"A-B-M?" Yoshika sounded it out; she tilted her head, "what's that?"

Vought smirked at her, "ABM stands for Anti-Ballistic Missile. We use them to shoot down nuclear weapons. As for the warhead… all I'm allowed to say is that it was a plasma weapon."

Mio blinked, "plasma?"

He nodded, "plasma, like the center of that." He pointed out the window at the sun. As the two stared at him and the sun, he continued, "The weapon works better up here than in atmosphere but it is an extremely precise weapon. All I can add is that it just converts matter; it does not explode or destroy anything and thus, no sound." He frowned and threw his hands up as he looked at Mio, "sorry but that is really all I'm cleared to give you."

Mio gave the colonel her one eye smile as she nodded, "That does just fine colonel; thank you for telling us what you could." She turned to Yoshika, "Come on Miyafuji, I think I can find a way to turn this into some training."

The two men watched the witches goof off in the back; the looks on the witches' faces let Vought and Grant know that what they were doing here was right.

_**November 7, 1945 0430 Hours- Assault Group 1, El Hoceima**_

"What do you have lieutenant?"

"_**I've got six tanks, two mobile triple-A, numerous MG nest and numerous patrols."**_

"Send me a visual."

"_**Streaming now sir."**_

Sokolov analyzed the situation on his tablet via the backpack launched drone from the CID hiding near the base. The sight of the robot nearly caused his men to attack it; after all of the actions the US had done in secret with these robots, especially Scion Aviation, made all of the Russian units nervous. Vitaly was just relieved he wasn't fighting one.

"Hm… four Matildas, two Pz IVs, two Ostwinds, and at least four MG42 nest." He turned to the American beside him, "Tell the mortar crews to drop their first shells on those MGs. The Tin Men are to deal with the tanks." The soldier nodded as he began to relay the commands to the teams. He watched as the tablet updated with the current locations of his forces; it was almost time to act. He checked his watch as he grabbed his radio, "lieutenant, once the tanks are eliminated, I want you to deal with the infantry teams. You will have sniper and mortar fire for cover."

"_**Roger that sir although I honestly don't think I'm going to have many issues with these guys."**_

"Still it is best to keep alert; never underestimate your opponent." He turned back to the American, "what is the status of team 2?"

The soldier looked up from his map, "Delayed sir, they ran into a storm and diverted around it. They won't be set up for another hour or two."

Sokolov glanced at his watch, "_Говно!_ _Not good, team 2 will need to assault in broad daylight, or wait till tonight… we can't attack now… we need to wait and pray we have time."_ "Everyone stand down, go back into hiding. The assault is being moved to tonight; team 2 was delayed. Everyone sight your weapons and get ready to move." He took a breath as he looked to the radioman, "Tell the colonel the attack has been delayed."

_**November 7, 1945 0830 Hours- Borealis Bridge, Adriatic Sea**_

"…_Shit… what now what now… can't turn around we have a deadline to meet. These people have set up a counterattack and we just can't abandon them. Need a plan now!" _Vought thought to himself as he flew the ship northward. Communicating with the Allied command in London, the forces of this world were mobilizing near the hives in a pattern. The first group would be ready in a matter of hours as the ship reached Nuremberg. The plan was to take out the Nuremberg hive, then the Prague hive and loop around into Russia, sorry Orussia, to take out the hive in Novgorov. Only then could they push on the final few hives in around Berlin. Vought and the crew had realized a problem though; even with the ability to use the drones again, the ship had a finite amount. The core could not make more because to this day, they had been unable to find the plans for the drones in the Ancient database on Atlantis. This meant it was time for some… unconventional tactics.

He snapped out of his thoughts as the bridge door opened, "Ladies."

Von Bonin and Preddy entered the bridge to find it devoid of a certain imposing figure; Huberta spoke, "Where is Col. Sokolov?"

Preddy nodded as well, "Come to think of it there seems to be quite a few people missing… where did they all go?"

Vought pretended not to hear as he whistled innocently; making sure the chair kept him facing away from the witches. To make it look like he was busier than normal, he pulled up some displays and he pretended to study them. The girls looked to Ross as spun around to find the colonel trying to ignore their question; he smiled nervously and grinned as he looked at them, "Uh well hey ladies… the witches ready?"

The two witches stared at him making him nervous; none of them noticed the rest of the bridge crew sneaking out of the room.

"So Sokolov and the others?" von Bonin asked again.

"…Uh…"

The witches heard Vought sigh as the displays disappeared and he spun the chair around to face them; he looked to his right, "Serenity?"

The AI appeared in a flash of light, "I've got the ship colonel."

Nodding Vought stood up as the chair deactivated, "Sokolov and the others are on a mission to retrieve the missing weapon." He waited for their response and he didn't have to wait long.

"Colonel I thought we were in on this TOGETHER! We are a team; we need to act like one." Huberta yelled as she shook her head, "I thought we were over this hiding important information from each other."

Preddy looked at him, "I thought you trusted us?"

Vought sighed again as he looked to Ross who looked dejected as well, "We do trust you… but this is payback for those bastards that attacked us… there is something else as well." He walked to a nearby console and activated the internal comms, "Minna, Mio, Joe, Heinrike, Lansby, and Volkov; Briefing Room now." He turned back to the girls but refused to make eye contact, "Come on you two, you're getting an explanation."

_**November 7, 1945 0902 Hours- Borealis Briefing Room**_

The witches reeled in their chairs as the crew finished their explanation; Joe and Minna shared a glance as the latter finally found her voice, "You're telling us that… that this weapon, which is capable of wiping out an entire city… is armed and is going to detonate in a matter of hours?" Preddy and Sayn-Wittgenstein stared silently at the colonel as he sat back in his chair and nodded.

"Why didn't you tell us… any of us?"

"We did tell someone… Adolfine knew and told us to proceed," Lansby stated quietly from the back.

Vought looked up again looking years older, "This is payback ladies… for what these assholes did to us, to you and your base." He made eye contact with everyone in the room, "I don't expect any of you to forgive us for deceiving you all again but this had to be done and it had to be done now and our way." He stood up and began to walk to the door, "Everyone is dismissed… I need to get back to flying."

The crew watched as the witches silently filed out of the room; after they left Ross turned, "Well we really screwed the pooch on that one didn't we?"

Lansby adjusted his glasses, "We did but we had a reason… the colonel is just trying to protect them. He doesn't want them to see what we've had to put up with for years. This really and truly sucks."

"да the doctor is correct… as are you Росс, it will be a miracle if they ever trust us again," he sighed, "I guess that means we just need pray that the полковник and the others succeed in their mission."

Ross nodded, "They'll succeed, don't worry," He glanced at the door and sighed, "We need to leave as soon as possible; for the sake of these girls and this reality, we need to leave before we scar them for good."

_Just Outside_

Heinrike glanced at Mio and Joe as she dismissed her antenna; the three of them had heard the whole thing and they were shocked. Despite the fact that they were pissed at these people from hiding something from them again, they were beginning to understand why.

"We need to tell the others."

Mio nodded at Joe, "Indeed we do come on."

_Jumper Bay 2_

"They're doing all this to protect us?" whispered Yoshika as Mio and the others explained what they had heard. The 501st and the ships contingent of witches had been given the bay for the duration of the ships attack. It was here that they lounged or trained as they prepared for combat.

"That's absurd; we're soldiers, why would they need to protect us from them?" Barkhorn asked.

"It must have to do with the way the deal with wars and combat. Remember what they showed us from WWII." Minna stated as she mulled over this new information. Geena and Heinrike looked at each other before they looked at the ground; dejected that they treated their friends like that.

"There's one way we can find out," Foss said out loud as she glanced around at the others.

"And how's that?"

"Serenity"

With a burst of light the Lantean AI appeared near Foss startling the 501st; they had yet to meet her. "What can I do for you Miss Foss?"

Serenity 'stood' there calmly as most of the witches continued to stare at her; Francesca went as far as putting her hand through her stomach. They all turned to Foss, "Do you have any…movies or videos of combat from your reality?"

Realizing what they had at their disposal, the witches turned to the AI as she nodded, "I have several thousand saved in my database; would you like me to play them?"

Foss nodded.

"Please make your way to the nearest monitor," she motioned towards the wall as it split open revealing a large screen. She waited as the witches crowded around it before she vanished and began to display the videos.

The girls watched as various windows popped up and began to play, some were in a news format and the others it seemed were from some soldier's helmets. One of the news reports showed a tank with the US flag driving though a sandy village as men and what looked like children ran from nearby buildings and began shooting indiscriminately into the air and at the tank; they watched as a rocket hit the tank and skip off into a nearby building. The tank's machinegun on it's roof rotated and began to fire back as a truck screeched around the corner and slammed into it blowing itself and the tank up; the camera wielder was knocked over from the force of the blast.

Another window showed a group of soldiers creeping through a village in formation, clearing windows, doors, and alleys as they passed. Reaching a door they watched as one of the soldiers tapped another on the soldier, that soldier shouldered a shotgun and stacked up in front of the door. As the soldier was given an order, he fired the shotgun into the door hinges and kicked it in, spinning as another threw a grenade into the room. The girls watched as instead of an explosion, the room was filled with a blinding light and as it faded the soldiers rushed the room, weapons drawn as they captured then men inside. Shirley covered Francesca's eyes as another man rushed the room and began firing riddling two of the soldiers and dropping them where they stood. As the men fired back at the man one of the men they had secured, rolled over exposing a gray block. They watched in horror as the block detonated, destroying the room and collapsing the building on top of them.

The girls continued to watch, with growing horror, the videos of combat.

_**November 7, 1945 1121 Hours- Jumper Bay 2**_

"Serenity I… I think that's enough… thank you," Foss managed to say as the shock finally set in. The videos finally stopped and the screen was once again covered as the witches stumbled away from it. Minna shook her head as she glanced around at the others, "I think we owe these people an apology. They really were trying to protect us."

"But how? We treated them like it was their fault for everything." von Bonin stated as she looked at the ground.

As the witches tried to think of something, Harris perked up, "I have an idea."

The others turned to her as she explained; Foss grinned, "That'll work."

_**November 7, 1945 2201 Hours- Assault Group 2, Baltim**_

"_Well this is what we get for being late… DAMN IT."_ Thompson cursed to himself as another flash of lightning and boom of thunder shook him. His team had arrived late to the party delaying both attacks and he knew he was in for some shit when he got back to the ship. The storm that had delayed his team was now smashing this coastal base drenching him and his team. He wiped water away from his watch as he checked the time before checking his weapon for water for the umpteenth time. "_59 minutes till this spot could be glass… WHY the HELL did this storm pick TODAY to hit. It's the god damn desert."_

Thompson's team had set up hours ago and were currently scanning the seemingly destroyed base for activity. They had quickly discovered the tanks hidden in a hanger and the MG nest hidden in various destroyed buildings. He clicked his radio, "Is everyone in position?'

He waited as the various "affirmatives" came back nodding as he mentally checked off each one. "Mark you ready yet?"

"_**I'll be ready just keep your pants on. The pack isn't wanting to connect; give me another minute and I'll be good."**_

Thompson grinded his teeth as he took a deep breath and exhaled; Mark Peterson, a civilian attaché from Sky Masters, was one of the ships only CID pilots and was a huge pain in the ass for him. From what he could tell, he was a natural pilot but still; he was an asshole. He snapped to attention as his radio crackled.

"_**Hang on I'm picking up an inbound radar contact."**_

Thompson frowned as a drone began to become noticeable over the storm, "Jumper 5 can you confirm?"

"_**Confirmed, looks like a C-47."**_

Thompson gave an evil grin as he charged his rifle, "Looks like we are going to get some payback." His expression changed as the plane dropped through the clouds with one engine out and a logo of some sort on the side. He reached for his radio, "Can anybody see what's on the side of that aircraft?" He waited as he chorus of no's reached him causing a frown to form, "_Who the hell is this?"_He watched as the plane landed and some figures exited the aircraft and began moving towards the damaged engine. "Snipers anyone got a visual on these newcomers?"

"_**I have a shot but no ID."**_

Thompson growled as he looked through his binocs noticing some of base's personnel heading towards the aircraft. He watched one of the people from the plane turn to the men from the base when a flash of lightning lit up the base and the aircraft.

"_**Hey isn't that a witch logo on the plane?"**_

He shifted his gaze as the light faded; an eagle with a star above it clearly visible on it's side. The figure talking to the man from the base was lit enough to be seen as a witch, "_What the hell is a witch unit doi-_SHIT all units engage NOW."

_**November 7, 1945 2159 Hours- Assault Group 1, El Hoceima**_

"Sir that was Group 2, they are ready whenever we are."

Sokolov sighed as he checked his weapon, an AN-94, pulling the charging handle he looked through his binoculars at the scene as the American radioman next to him continued to relay status reports. "Looks like it's time to move get the mortars prepped and ready, snipers prepare for targets, Thomas get ready to go-"

"Sir Group 2 has radioed a plane is landing at their location."

Sokolov raised his eyebrow as he turned, "Interesting can they identify it?"

He waited for a reply, "All they can is that it is a C-47."

He nodded, "keep me updated." He turned to look over his shoulder at the mortar crew 50 yards behind him, his NVGs lighting the area up in a green light.

"Sir, group two identified the C-47 as a witch transport that seems to be experiencing mechanical trouble. Someone from the plane is interacting with a member of the base."

Sokolov frowned, "Do they… never mind it doesn't matter, just tell them to keep an eye on the witches. We need to make sure they don't get hurt."

The radioman nodded as he relayed the order. Sokolov checked his watch, "_5 minutes and-"_

"Sir Group 2 is engaging; the base personnel attacked the plane and knocked one of the witches out!"

"What?! All units engage now!" The sound of mortar shells streaking over his head was the signal for everyone to attack. He sprung up and rushed towards the pre-cut fence as the mortar shells smashed the MG emplacements. Shrapnel flew everywhere as the men manning the nest were shredded into a bloody paste; the weapons blown to pieces killing the patrols near them. He heard the tanks start as the crews responded to the inbound attack. A rocket from the speeding CID turned the aircraft on the runway into a burning pile of scrap. As he and the others reached the fence he watched the tanks stop moving one by one as the Tin Men killed them and their crews with their rail guns.

_CID-7_

Thomas skidded to a halt as he landed from his jump over the fence; the patrol he ran into was staring at him in horror, "_**Hey guys sorry but you need to die now."**_ This statement snapped them out of their shock as they began to attack him. He snorted in amusement as the small arms fire barely caused his power levels to drop. When they finally stopped to reload he threw out his arm killing all three of them with the impact. He could see their rib cages collapse as they took the hit and were thrown into the fence. Feeling small arms hit him from behind he sighed and shook his head as the 40mm grenade launcher on his backpack rotated and fired twice. Turning around he grimaced at the bloody sight; there was not much left to identify them as humans. Studying his display, he ran off again towards the center of the base.

_Colonel Vitaly Sokolov_

Sokolov took cover behind a destroyed Ostwind; three more of his men stacked up with him. Motion above caused him and the others to aim their weapons up only to have their attacker lose the top part of his head in a spray of pink mist. "_**Still got your back sir," **_Sokolov grinned as the unseen sniper shifted his gaze elsewhere; he wasn't going to tell Vought but he was incredibly impressed with the SGC personnel, they weren't Spetsnaz but they were still pretty damn good. He watched as the CID slid to the middle of the runway firing the vertical-launch rockets from it's back; vehicles and men were being destroyed all around him and there were still no casualties on their side. Things were going pretty damn well… too well and that is when he felt the vibration.

_CID-7_

Thomas felt rather than saw the threat as it broke it's way out of the nearby hanger. The sight stunned him for a moment before he realized this was a threat, "_**Well shit…"**_ and that is when the 88mm round smacked him in the chest and sent him flying over the destroyed transport.

_Colonel Vitaly Sokolov_

Sokolov winced as he watched the lieutenant fly over him and his men, he shook his head as he watched the CID start to roll over, "So there is no problem then huh lieutenant? There is no way they can hurt you huh?"

"_**Ug… headache… power is at 20% I need to go change packs."**_

"Pop smoke on the CID so he can leave and change power." Everyone with the attack force switched to thermal goggles as white smoke obscured the already dark battlefield throwing what was left of the defenders into complete disarray. He glanced around the destroyed Triple-A tank as he thought up a response to the new threat as it once again fired into the smoke hoping to hit something. He shook his head as he removed his goggles to see with his eyes what it was; he ducked as the Tiger fired once again narrowly missing some other members of his team, this thing needed to be dealt with. He grabbed his radio as he ducked back; the PzKpfw VI produced its own smoke as it retreated to the hanger, "Target the Tiger now, kill it fast before he gets lucky and hits someone else."

A chorus of "rogers" reached his earpiece as he waited for its destruction; gunfire behind him caused him to drop into a crouch and spin as he raised his weapon. He and his men fired in unison at the soldiers behind them; the 5.45x39mm and 7.62x39mm rounds hit and tore into them; the rounds ripped the men apart and even tore someone's arm off. His magazine hit the ground as he reloaded; an explosion rocked the hanger causing Sokolov to glance up, "_Hm must have hit a HE shell or something,"_ "Is it dead?"

"_**Roger that sir, lit that sucker up like a candle. We're moving in towards the underground portion of the base."**_

_15 minutes later_

"_**Sir we've cleared the underground parts of the base; the weapon is not here I repeat the weapon is not here."**_

Sokolov growled as he slapped his weapon; he turned to the radio operator, "Get everyone back to the Ju-" Everyone dove to the ground as a soldier with a Panzerschreck jumped up from a destroyed hanger and fired at him. The rocket and the rocketeer were destroyed instantly; Sokolov stood up and dusted himself off as Thomas walked up to him, rail gun at the ready.

"_**You ok sir?"**_

The colonel just glared at him, "I'm fine, get everyone back to the Jumpers. We need to hustle if we are going to help Group 2."

_**November 7, 1945 2223 Hours- Assault Group 2, Baltim**_

_1__st__ Lt. Alex Nemes_

Nemes watched with enhanced HUD as the men from the base took aim and killed the pilots and flight engineer looking at the damaged engine and before she could react, the leader rifle bashed the witch knocking her out cold.

"_**SHIT all units engage NOW!"**_

"_About damn time_," he thought as he sighted in on one of the armored vehicles on the base and fired. The 3kg tungsten projectile went hypersonic as it left the barrel of the gun and gutted the PzIV. Leaving only a tiny entry hole, the projectile passed through the front of the tank, the unfortunate driver, the engine, and finally the rear armor with barely a check in speed; the projectile continued through a destroyed building before finally burying itself in the sand, 2km away. Nemes and his team stood up.

"_**Lieutenant I need you and your team to secure the plane. The CID is on it's way as well."**_

"_**Understood sir what do you want us to do about the witch they are taking hostage?"**_

"…_**Snipers don't have a clean shot, for now just try to ignore their fire and avoid shooting at her. We will recover her as soon as possible."**_

"_**Understood,"**_ Nemes turned to his 4-man team, "_**Let's go save the girls."**_

They nodded as they charged the compressed-air rockets in their boots and simultaneously jumped the fence; sprinting towards the wounded C-47. Reaching the plane, Nemes and his men began to engage the base personnel with conventional weapons holstering their rail guns for the moment. One of his men dove out of the way as a halftrack slid on its side, through where he was previously standing. Nemes's sensors bleeped a warning as a friendly moved at incredible speed towards them.

"_**Sorry bout that 1-Lt, guess I forgot my own strength."**_ Peterson stated as he slid in position behind their new cover. Nemes glared at the CID through his helmet and shook his head; he and the captain would deal with the civilian later. The electrodes on his shoulder fired at a figure as they ran around the halftrack and attempted to enter the plane. He and his men quickly cuffed and secured the unconscious soldier and threw him unceremoniously into the halftrack. After Peterson alerted him that they were clear for the moment, Nemes climbed into the darkened plane with his weapons secured and his hands in the air, "_**Everyone, I'm 1**__**st**__** Lt. Alex Nemes from the Borealis; I'm here to help. Is everyone here ok?"**_

He watched as two men and four witches climbed from the hiding places, weapons aimed at him. Upon his ID they lowered them as one of the witches walked up to him, "Lieutenant?" She looked him up and down before she sat back down; head in her hands. "They took her… I've failed as a leader."

Nemes kneeled down and put a hand on her shoulder, "_**It's ok ma'am… we will get her back in one piece."**_ He paused, "_**Who was it?"**_

He watched as she looked up to him, her brown eyes flashed in the lightning, "Captain Hannah Marseille," Captain Katou Keiko whispered as the other witches gripped their weapons tightly.

Nemes sat there shocked for a moment as he remembered the witch that saved the colonel. He patted her on the shoulder quickly as he stood up, "_**Sir, we have identified the witch, it is Capt. Marseille. The others are safe sir; four witches and two support personnel."**_

He didn't have to wait long for the replies, "_**Shit… lieutenant you and your team are to go after her now; we have other teams moving to your position now. It is mostly a mop up operation; it seems they were drawing this base down."**_

He nodded, "_**Understood, we are moving out now."**_

As he turned to leave he felt someone tugging on his suit. Turning he found a young blond hair witch with a red face, she sniffed as she rubbed her eyes, "I-I want to help save Hannah; Please let me come with you."

He sighed as he crouched back down and made eye contact; he killed the polarization on his helmet allowing the witch to see his face lit up from the inside, "_**Sorry ma'am but we are going to be moving too fast for you to keep up. Besides you don't have night vision like we do." **_He stood up as his helmet repolarized, "_**I will promise you though that I will not let anything happen to her. You have my word."**_

She looked down, saddened at this but then looked up again, "O-Ok… please just keep her safe."

As he turned to leave he called out, "_**By the way who are you?"**_

She sniffed and gave a small smile as the soldier crouched at the top of the stairs; a quiet whine formed near his feet, "Lt. Raisa Pottgen, Karlsland Air Force."

He nodded, "_**Nice to meet you Raisa,"**_ he spoke as vanished in a burst of compressed air. The witches rushed to the door as they watched his figure vanish into the darkness; his men and the large robot followed him, firing as they moved.

_11 minutes later_

"_**Clear left"**_

"_**Clear right"**_

"_**All clear sir the weapon is secure, the timer is active we have 13 minutes get the tech over here."**_

Thompson nodded as he and his guard moved up and into the demolished base; the rain was still pounding the airfield turning everything into a soupy mess. He glanced over as some of his men escorted the witches and the surviving maintenance staff to the jumpers. They were shaken but were still alert and ready for action; they refused to put down their weapons. As he walked by, he gave the captain a nod as he and his team escorted the technician towards Peterson; the CID was carrying the Mark IX towards them. A squad of the Russians and Tin Men protected him as he moved; the grenade launcher on his back could be seen moving in the flashes of lightning.

"How much time do you need to disarm it?" Thompson yelled over the thunder.

The tech shrugged as he checked his equipment, "Hopefully less than 7 minutes otherwise were going to have to drag this thing out of here fast," he yelled back.

Thompson nodded as the weapon was set down and a tarp was erected over it; the gathered men set up a perimeter. He grabbed his radio, "Nemes what's your status?" He waited for a reply and got none, "NEMES answer!" He changed the channel, "Anyone have a visual on Nemes and his men?"

"_**Uh sir this is Overwatch, Nemes and his squad are chasing some men fleeing in a truck. They have the witch with them."**_

Thompson stood there as processed this new info, "Jumper 4 get over here NOW we are going after that truck; Overwatch which way were they headed?"

"_**North sir, towards the coast."**_

_1__st__ Lt. Alex Nemes_

He glanced back at the two men still with him as they continued to chase down the truck fleeing the fight. The other two took too many hits and were forced back to change batteries. He glanced at his own power levels, "_41% remaining… we're going to have to end this soon."_ "_**State your power levels**_."

"_**42%"**_

"_**39%"**_

He frowned, they really needed to end this quickly before they ran out of power; another flash of lightning lit up a change in the scenery, "_**The coast?"**_ He checked his rail gun and grunted; it was dead, too much water must have got in it. He drew his side arm as they approached a bit of high ground near the road. Waiting for the other two to catch up, the three of them peeked over the ridge.

Lit up in a set of spotlights below them was a German U-Boat docked at a pier. They watched as the truck they were chasing pulled alongside the sub and it's men began to disembark carrying the unconscious witch with them.

"_**Sir, we can't let them board that sub; we don't have the firepower or the battery life to attack."**_

Nemes nodded as he tried to think up a plan; none of them had any of their rail guns and they had one assault rifle with only a single magazine left. They had their electrodes but that would just drain their overtaxed batteries even faster. Glancing at the scene he came up with an idea and relayed it to his men.

Nemes sighed as he checked his pistol and crouched down; the other two were crouched at the berm taking aim. He waited until his suit showed 100% charged and ran straight at the berm. As he hit it he jumped and activated the rockets throwing him 60 feet in the air. As he soared through the air, the other two shot out the spotlights throwing the dock into darkness as the defenders tried to find a new source of light. He began to descend towards his target; "_Huh this might actually wo-" _his thought was cut off as the sky was once again lit in a flash of lightning before his suit went dead.

His men watched as the lieutenant's hair-brained scheme seemed to be working until he started to fall. The one turned to the other, "_**Looks like he is going to make i-" **_They both watched as their leader was struck, mid-air, by lightning and they lost his signal on their HUDs. They watched as he whipped his helmet off and flailed in the air before landing awkwardly on the deck of the sub between the groups of soldiers. He faltered before he steadied himself and slugged the nearest soldier in the face sending him into the sea. He fired twice into the two carrying the witch dropping them and her to the deck. They had been too close to the edge and the three of them began to slide into the water causing the lieutenant to ditch his weapon and dive to grab the witch. He successfully grabbed her and pulled her back before one of the disoriented soldiers rifle-bashed him in the back of the skull, dropping him to the deck.

"_**SHIT the LT is down we need to get down there."**_ The two prepped to jump as another spotlight was turned on and shined to their position. Heavy MG fire began to pound them as they dropped back to the ground; a few hits had drained their power to critical levels, "_**Group 2 lead this is Jones, Lt. Nemes is down I repeat Lt. Nemes is down do you read?"**_

They waited for a reply as the sound of a large diesel motor filled the air over the sound of the storm. Peeking over the berm, they watched as the lieutenant and the captain were loaded into the sub as it began to pull away from the dock. They watched helplessly as the sub pulled away and began to submerge ruining any chance they had of saving their leader and the witch. As they tried to think of a plan, a halftrack and a platoon of soldiers finally made their way up to the two. They raised their hands as they looked for an escape.

Jones looked to his partner, "_**I've got a single frag left and one mag for my pistol…you?"**_

"_**Half a mag for my rifle and a flashbang."**_

Jones looked at the 20 soldiers and the halftrack as they began to advance; there was no way they were getting out of this alive. He twitched his fingers towards his frag; if he was going down he was going down swinging. As the gunner on the halftrack reached for his trigger, a massive form fell from the sky and crushed the gunner and nearly cut the vehicle in half. The two Tin Men watched as two Jumpers decloaked and the CID removed itself from the wreckage of the halftrack, more Tin Men dropped from the Jumpers as they took aim at their attackers.

"_**Damn sir, thanks for the rescue but why are you all here? Shouldn't you be with the nuke?"**_

As the men were disarmed, one of the Jumpers landed and began to disembark more men; as they moved towards the attackers, one of them turned towards the two of them carrying new batteries. "It seems gentleman that you are slightly out of the loop, the weapon has been disarmed."

Col. Sokolov smirked as he walked up to the two Americans; motioning for them to turn around he began to change their batteries. He looked around for the third, "Where is Lt. Nemes?"

The two Tin Men looked at each other before Jones turned to the colonel, "_**…On that sub that just left along with Capt. Marseille."**_

They watched the colonel as he finished changing the spent cells. He took off his hat letting the rain wash the camouflage off his face. "This isn't good…" he grabbed his radio, "Jumper 2 can you track them?"

"_**Negative sir, we'd need sonar for that."**_

The colonel sighed as he ran his hand through his hair, "Everyone back on the Jumpers. We need to tell Vought."

_**November 7, 1945 2305 Hours- Borealis Bridge**_

He had been biting his nails as he paced back and forth in front of the control chair as he stared at the communication panel. Since landing in Switzerland, the colonel had refused to leave the bridge as he waited for word on the assault teams to the south. Ross snorted as the colonel made yet another pass, "Sir you're going to wear a hole in the deck, relax."

Vought turned to him as he finally stopped, "My men could be dying down there I have the right to be nervous."

"I'll give you that sir bu-"

"Sir incoming transmission from Col. Sokolov,"

"Put him on"

"_**Colonel…"**_

Everyone was silent as they waited, "_**The mission was a success; the weapon was recovered and successfully disarmed."**_

Ross and Vought sighed in relief as the bridge crew burst into cheers. Ross patted Vought on the shoulder, "See? Everything turned out alright."

Vought ignored him, "Any casualties?"

"_**No"**_

Vought finally allowed a small smile to grace his face as Ross slapped him on the back. "Somebody go let Alexei know that we succeeded."

They watched as somebody nodded and exited the bridge, "_**We even rescued a witch unit."**_

Vought spun back towards the console, "What do you mean witch unit?" He listened to Vitaly's explanation of the assault; Thompson chimed in as well when needed. He nodded as they finished, "Damn fine job gentlemen now get back here we have a war to win."

There was a pause before the colonel responded, "_**…Chris…"**_

The crew went silent as they stared at the colonel, "…What?"

"_**They escaped with two hostages; 1**__**st**__** Lt. Alex Nemes, and Capt. Hannah Marseille."**_

Vought dropped his head in disbelief, "Anyway to track them?"

"…_**Negative they escaped by submarine."**_

The crew watched the colonel clench his fist before he began to walk to the door, "get back here fast. We need as many hands as possible." With that final statement, he left.

_**November 7, 1945 2322 Hours- Observation Deck**_

"I'll modify two of the Jumpers with sonar sir. I will personally see to it; we will find them." Lansby stated as he left the room leaving the colonel alone with his thoughts.

Vought stared out the windows at the snow as he punched the window again, "_DAMN IT MURPHY… screwing with me again. Why the hell does this keep happening to us?"_

He dropped his gaze as he growled at the window, _"This sucks… one of my own and one of the witches. Shit I promised Adolfine nothing would happen to her witches while I was here. We already screwed things up here and now our one remaining ally isn't going to trust us anymore…"_He kicked the window as he sighed. A knock on the doorway caused him to turn, "What?" he growled out.

The man stepped into the room, "Good evening sir, Captain Kevin Harp, sorry for the intrusion."

Vought sighed, "It's fine captain… what do you need."

"Sir… I heard about the hostages and I'm sorry but there is something you should know… Lt. Nemes and I are not… exactly SGC personnel."

This statement caused Vought to go rigid before he rotated and drew his sidearm. The captain sheepishly raised his hands, "I didn't say I wasn't US soldier sir please let me explain."

The colonel growled as he continued aiming at the man, "you have 30 seconds. Who are you with?"

Harp slowly put his hands down, "We are ISA sir, myself, Nemes, and six others onboard. We were assigned to the ship when we learned that the Russians were sending Alpha Group members."

He waited as this information sank in causing the colonel to holster his weapon and to collapse into a nearby seat, "Who authorized this and did General Landry know?"

Harp shook his head, "I only know of two who knew; the Director, and SECDEF. Homeworld Security was not alerted to this… addition to the ship."

"Why?"

"SECDEF didn't trust the Russians to be all buddy-buddy with us. It was supposed to be just one man but when the Russians changed the roster to include Col. Sokolov and Alpha Group, he wanted more so he assigned our team to the crew. We have edited records and were placed in in secret. Nemes and I have the only Air Force records; the others all have Marine records. I'm sorry for the secrecy but we were under orders."

He watched Vought carefully as the colonel stood back up and walked over to the window again. He was surprised when the colonel started to bang his head against the glass. He stopped and turned to Harp, "Which group?"

Harp blinked, "What do you mean sir?"

"I know the ISA operates different groups; Nemes is familiar with the Tin Man system which means he's used it before. I'm going to ask one more time… which group?"

Harp gave the colonel a nervous smile as he took a step back, "Uh… well… Paul White's group."

The colonel just stared at him before turning back around and throwing his head into the window; hard.

_**November 7, 1945 2322 Hours- Jumper Bay 2**_

"FFFUUUUUUCCCCCKKKK!"

Shirley covered Francesca's ears as the loudest curse she had ever heard echoed through the ship. The other witches woke up as they all dropped their jaws at this extremely foul language. Foss put down the book she had been reading raised an eyebrow; as it got quiet again she responded, "NO THANKS!" The other witches stared back at her in disbelief, "What? I was joking." She picked up her book again while Preddy snorted pretending to still be asleep.

_**Unknown Date, 1945 Unknown Time- Unmarked Submarine**_

"Hey spaceman wake up… hey I'm talking to you wake up. Shit what's your name again… Nemes? That's right Nemes, WAKE UP!"

Nemes groaned as the speaker finally helped to wake him up. He blinked bleary eyed as he tried to identify his location. Attempting to stand, he found his hands cuffed to a pipe behind him. He shook his head clearing his vision; he noticed he wasn't alone in the room.

"Good you're awake. They got you pretty good… you ok?"

He blinked again as he finally identified his companion, "Capt. Marseille?"

"Call me Hannah; I have a feeling we are going to be here for a while so no need to stick to protocol."

He blinked again as he attempted to remember what happened, "The sub… they got me as I tried to save you…" He looked at her, "Sorry… I think I got hit by lightning otherwise." He shook his hands, "we wouldn't be here."

Hannah smirked and shook her head, "Don't worry about it. I was faking unconscious for the last 5 or so minutes of the journey. I was aware of your attempted rescue. My knight in shining armor attempting to save the damsel in distress…" She sighed as she glared at him, "I broke a nail when they dropped me."

Nemes smirked as he began trying to do something, "Sorry about that… Hannah. Call me Alex."

She smiled, "Nice to meet you Alex; it's funny, both times I've met you while you were unconscious. Now what to do about this situation…" A click caused her to look up, "How the hell did you do that?"

Nemes smirked as he rubbed his wrist; he moved over to her as he began to pick her handcuffs, "A magician never reveals his secrets."

**And another one bites the dust. Sorry everyone for how late this chapter is. The crash on my computer was worse than I thought and partially destroyed this chapter and chapter 11 which I have had no time to try and fix with finals coming up. Another reason this was late was because… well I was kinda hospitalized by a spider bite and I'm on a lot of antibiotics now. No I did not gain super powers from the bite but had I waited any longer I could have lost a portion of my leg. At least until December I might have some very late chapters but I will try my hardest to get them up on time. For chapter 11 I will try to have it up by the following Sunday; that should leave me plenty of time to correct it and not fail my classes. For those of you still waiting for this story, I thank you for your patience; it means a lot and I have not abandoned this story yet. Not by a long shot so just stick with me. Ghostrider21 is back in the saddle and I will see you next time.**


End file.
